acevsavTell them apart

Which to use

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

#14,189
“ace” frequency rank
#4,732
“av” frequency rank
18921
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ace av
Definition Service gagnant sans que l'adversaire ait touché la balle. Onzième mois du calendrier hébraïque.

Where the eye mixes ace and av

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

3 ch
ace
2 ch
av

Visual trap between ace and av

A purely visual mix-up. ace (\ɛs\) and av (\av\) 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 18921, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ace is recorded at frequency rank #14,189, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛs\. av is at rank #4,732, tagged as anoun, pronounced \av\.

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 18921, this pair ranks #375,927 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ace vs av

Shared letters: a. Private to "ace": ce. Private to "av": v.

"ace" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "av" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ace" and "av" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛs\ versus \av\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ace" or "av"?
"av" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,732 in our French list, against #14,189 for "ace". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "av" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #375,927 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ace" and "av" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ace vs aves". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #375,927 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