abcèsvsaisesTell them apart

Which to use

“abcès” and “aises” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,675
“abcès” frequency rank
#41,636
“aises” frequency rank
69311
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature abcès aises
Definition Poche de pus dans une cavité formée aux dépens des tissus environnants. Pluriel de aise.

Where the eye mixes abcès and aises

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. abcès (VCCVC) and aises (VVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
abcès
5 ch
aises

Look-alike desk: abcès vs aises

A purely visual mix-up. abcès (\ap.sɛ\) and aises (\ɛz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69311, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

abcès is recorded at frequency rank #27,675, classified as anoun, pronounced \ap.sɛ\. aises is at rank #41,636, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛz\.

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 69311, this pair ranks #55,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of abcès vs aises

Shared letters: as. Private to "abcès": bcè. Private to "aises": ei.

"abcès" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "aises" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aises ← aisess · aisse · aisses · asies · iases

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "abcès" for "aises" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ap.sɛ\ versus \ɛz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "abcès" or "aises"?
"abcès" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,675 in our French list, against #41,636 for "aises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "abcès" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #55,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "abcès" and "aises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aises vs aves". 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 #55,623 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list