actesvsaisesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,552
“actes” frequency rank
#41,636
“aises” frequency rank
43188
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature actes aises
Definition Pluriel de acte. Pluriel de aise.

Where the eye mixes actes and aises

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. actes (VCCVC) and aises (VVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

5 ch
actes
5 ch
aises

Visual trap between actes and aises

A purely visual mix-up. actes (\akt\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43188, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

actes is recorded at frequency rank #1,552, classified as anoun, pronounced \akt\. 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 43188, this pair ranks #219,987 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of actes vs aises

Shared letters: aes. Private to "actes": ct. Private to "aises": i.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • actes ← acctes · acets · actess · actse · acttes · atces · cates
  • aises ← aisess · aisse · aisses · asies · iases

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "actes" and "aises" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\akt\ versus \ɛz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "actes" vs "aises" - which ranks higher?
"actes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,552 in our French list, against #41,636 for "aises". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "actes" 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 #219,987 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "actes" 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 #219,987 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