AndrévsAndrewTell them apart

Which to use

“André” and “Andrew” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#20,833
“André” frequency rank
#2,610
“Andrew” frequency rank
23443
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature André Andrew
Definition A male given name from French or Portuguese, borrowed from the French and Portuguese form of Andrew. A male given name from Ancient Greek.

Where the eye mixes André and Andrew

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. André runs 5 letters (VCCCV) against Andrew's 6 (VCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
André
6 ch
Andrew

Look-alike desk: André vs Andrew

A purely visual mix-up. André (/ˈɑːndɹeɪ/) and Andrew (/ˈæn.dɹuː/) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

André is recorded at frequency rank #20,833, classified as aname, pronounced /ˈɑːndɹeɪ/. Andrew is at rank #2,610, tagged as aname, pronounced /ˈæn.dɹuː/.

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 23443, this pair ranks #409,222 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of André vs Andrew

Shared letters: adnr. Private to "André": é. Private to "Andrew": ew.

"André" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "Andrew" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Andrew ← adnrew · anddrew · anderw · andreww · andrrew · andrwe · anndrew · anrdew

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "André" for "Andrew" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (/ˈɑːndɹeɪ/ versus /ˈæn.dɹuː/) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary English text, does "André" or "Andrew" show up more?
"Andrew" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,610 in our English list, against #20,833 for "André". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "André" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Andrew" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #409,222 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "André" and "Andrew" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Ando vs André". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #409,222 of 530,003 scored English pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list