Français homophones

air/aire/aires/airs/erre/errent/r

"air" is a noun; "errent" is a verb - grammar picks the spelling, not sound. Size rank #10 of 9,139 French groups.

Data vintage 2026-05-06

Grammar picks the spelling

Same sound, different grammar: "air" arrives as a noun, while "errent" is a verb. Once the sentence role is fixed, only one spelling fits.

Spelling pairs in this cluster

Shared stem "air" then splits - "air" (3 letters) vs "aire" (4).
Shared stem "air" then splits - "air" (3 letters) vs "aires" (5).
Shared stem "air" then splits - "air" (3 letters) vs "airs" (4).
No shared spelling stem: "air" is 3 letters, "erre" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "air" is 3 letters, "errent" is 6; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "air" is 3 letters, "r" is 1; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "aire" then splits - "aire" (4 letters) vs "aires" (5).
Single-letter fork: "aire" keeps e, "airs" writes s at letter 4.
No shared spelling stem: "aire" is 4 letters, "erre" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "aire" is 4 letters, "errent" is 6; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "aire" is 4 letters, "r" is 1; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "air" then splits - "aires" (5 letters) vs "airs" (4).
No shared spelling stem: "aires" is 5 letters, "erre" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "aires" is 5 letters, "errent" is 6; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "aires" is 5 letters, "r" is 1; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "airs" is 4 letters, "erre" is 4; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "airs" is 4 letters, "errent" is 6; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "airs" is 4 letters, "r" is 1; only the sound ties them.
Shared stem "erre" then splits - "erre" (4 letters) vs "errent" (6).
No shared spelling stem: "erre" is 4 letters, "r" is 1; only the sound ties them.
No shared spelling stem: "errent" is 6 letters, "r" is 1; only the sound ties them.

Orthographic DNA of this cluster

Shared letters across air, aire, aires, airs, erre, errent, r: r. Private letters are the ones only one spelling owns: the eye's fastest tell once sound is out of the picture.

air
3 letters · 2 vowels · shape VVC
Inventory air · private ai
aire
4 letters · 3 vowels · shape VVCV
Inventory aeir · private aei
aires
5 letters · 3 vowels · shape VVCVC
Inventory aeirs · private aeis
airs
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape VVCC
Inventory airs · private ais
erre
4 letters · 2 vowels · shape VCCV
Inventory er · private e
errent
6 letters · 2 vowels · shape VCCVCC
Inventory enrt · private ent
r
1 letters · 0 vowels · shape C
Inventory r · no private letters vs siblings

Pick the spelling from the meaning

Write "air" when you mean: Mélange gazeux constituant l’atmosphère.
Write "aire" when you mean: Superficie, quantité positive associée à une surface bornée, plane ou dans l’espace à trois dimensions.
Write "aires" when you mean: Pluriel de aire.
Write "airs" when you mean: Pluriel de air.
Write "erre" when you mean: Lettre latine R, r.
Write "errent" when you mean: Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de errer.
Write "r" when you mean: Dix-huitième lettre et quatorzième consonne de l’alphabet (minuscule).

Known mistypes of these spellings

Edit-distance variants recorded against this cluster: useful when a search or OCR feed lands on the wrong form.

aire ← aier · airre · arie · iare
aires ← aiers · airess · airres · airse · aries · iares
airs ← airrs · airss · aisr · iars
erre ← ere · erer · rere
errent ← erent · erernt · errennt · errentt · erretn · errnet

Each spelling

air

noun · /\ɛʁ\/ · #341 frequency

Mélange gazeux constituant l’atmosphère.

aire

noun · /\ɛʁ\/ · #5,629 frequency

Superficie, quantité positive associée à une surface bornée, plane ou dans l’espace à trois dimensions.

aires

noun · /\ɛʁ\/ · #7,646 frequency

Pluriel de aire.

airs

noun · /\ɛʁ\/ · #6,583 frequency

Pluriel de air.

erre

noun · /\ɛʁ\/ · #27,429 frequency

Lettre latine R, r.

errent

verb · /\ɛʁ\/ · #45,590 frequency

Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de errer.

character · /\ɛʁ\/ · #637 frequency

Dix-huitième lettre et quatorzième consonne de l’alphabet (minuscule).