surchargevssurchargerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: surcharge is a noun, surcharger is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“surcharge” is a noun and “surcharger” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,014
“surcharge” frequency rank
#45,335
“surcharger” frequency rank
62349
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature surcharge surcharger
Definition Nouvelle charge ajoutée à la charge ordinaire, normale. Imposer une charge excessive, un trop grand fardeau.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set surcharge and surcharger apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
surcharge
10 ch
surcharger

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: surcharge is \syʁ.ʃaʁʒ\ while surcharger is \syʁ.ʃaʁ.ʒe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “surcharge” sits inside “surcharger”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62349, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

surcharge is recorded at frequency rank #17,014, classified as anoun, pronounced \syʁ.ʃaʁʒ\. surcharger is at rank #45,335, tagged as averb, pronounced \syʁ.ʃaʁ.ʒe\.

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 62349, this pair ranks #87,610 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of surcharge vs surcharger

Shared letters: aceghrsu. Private to "surcharge": -. Private to "surcharger": -.

"surcharge" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCCV  ·  "surcharger" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • surchargesrucharge · ssurcharge · sucrharge · surcahrge · surccharge · surchagre · surchareg · surchargge
  • surchargersrucharger · ssurcharger · sucrharger · surcahrger · surccharger · surchagrer · surcharegr · surchargerr

Frequency comparison

surcharge#17,014
surcharger#45,335

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "surcharge" and "surcharger" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "surcharge" is a noun and "surcharger" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "surcharge" or "surcharger"?
"surcharge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,014 in our French list, against #45,335 for "surcharger". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering surcharge vs surcharger

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “surcharge”; for a verb, it's “surcharger”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “surcharge” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list