ablevsAdlerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: able is a noun, Adler is a name, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“able” is a noun and “Adler” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#38,623
“able” frequency rank
#28,041
“Adler” frequency rank
66664
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature able Adler
Definition Une des espèces de petits poissons osseux d’eau douce comestibles d’Europe, dont les écailles servent à la fabrication des fausses perles. Nom de famille.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set able and Adler apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
able
5 ch
Adler

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: able is \abl\ while Adler is \ad.lœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

able is recorded at frequency rank #38,623, classified as anoun, pronounced \abl\. Adler is at rank #28,041, tagged as aname, pronounced \ad.lœʁ\.

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 66664, this pair ranks #66,839 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of able vs Adler

Shared letters: ael. Private to "able": b. Private to "Adler": dr.

"able" · 4 letters · shape VCCV  ·  "Adler" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ableabble
  • Adleraddler · adelr · adlerr · adller · adlre · alder · daler

Frequency comparison

able#38,623
Adler#28,041

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "able" and "Adler" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "able" is a noun and "Adler" a name, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "able" or "Adler"?
"Adler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,041 in our French list, against #38,623 for "able". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering able vs Adler

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “able”; for a name, it's “Adler”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “able” 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