sacréevssacrerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: sacrée is a adjective, sacrer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“sacrée” is an adjective and “sacrer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#5,290
“sacrée” frequency rank
#44,171
“sacrer” frequency rank
49461
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature sacrée sacrer
Definition Féminin singulier de sacré. Conférer un caractère sacré par le moyen de certaines cérémonies religieuses.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set sacrée and sacrer apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
sacrée
6 ch
sacrer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: sacrée and sacrer carry the same recorded pronunciation, \sa.kʁe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49461, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

sacrée is recorded at frequency rank #5,290, classified as anadj, pronounced \sa.kʁe\. sacrer is at rank #44,171, tagged as averb, pronounced \sa.kʁe\.

Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.

With a confusion score of 49461, this pair ranks #170,476 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of sacrée vs sacrer

Shared letters: acers. Private to "sacrée": é. Private to "sacrer": -.

"sacrée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "sacrer" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • sacrerascrer · saccrer · sacerr · sacrerr · sacrre · sacrrer · sarcer · scarer

Frequency comparison

sacrée#5,290
sacrer#44,171

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "sacrée" and "sacrer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "sacrée" is an adjective and "sacrer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "sacrée" or "sacrer"?
"sacrée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,290 in our French list, against #44,171 for "sacrer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering sacrée vs sacrer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “sacrée”; for a verb, it's “sacrer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “sacrée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list