actéevsactesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#47,712
“actée” frequency rank
#1,552
“actes” frequency rank
49264
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature actée actes
Definition Plante de la famille des renonculacées, qui peut atteindre jusqu’à 2.5 m de hauteur, et est originaire des sous-bois ombragés du sud-est du Canada et du nord-est des États-Unis. Pluriel de acte.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set actée and actes apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
actée
5 ch
actes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. actée (\ak.te\) and actes (\akt\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49264, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

actée is recorded at frequency rank #47,712, classified as anoun, pronounced \ak.te\. actes is at rank #1,552, tagged as anoun, pronounced \akt\.

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 49264, this pair ranks #172,072 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of actée vs actes

Shared letters: acet. Private to "actée": é. Private to "actes": s.

"actée" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV  ·  "actes" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • actesacctes · acets · actess · actse · acttes · atces · cates

Frequency comparison

actée#47,712
actes#1,552

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "actée" and "actes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ak.te\ versus \akt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "actée" or "actes"?
"actes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,552 in our French list, against #47,712 for "actée". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering actée vs actes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “actée” 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