actesvsaxésTell them apart

Quick tell: actes is a noun, axés is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“actes” is a noun and “axés” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,552
“actes” frequency rank
#38,660
“axés” frequency rank
40212
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature actes axés
Definition Pluriel de acte. Participe passé masculin pluriel du verbe axer.

Where the eye mixes actes and axés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. actes runs 5 letters (VCCVC) against axés's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
actes
4 ch
axés

Visual trap between actes and axés

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: actes is \akt\ while axés is \ak.se\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40212, 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\. axés is at rank #38,660, tagged as averb, pronounced \ak.se\.

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 40212, this pair ranks #242,178 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of actes vs axés

Shared letters: as. Private to "actes": cet. Private to "axés": xé.

"actes" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "axés" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • actes ← acctes · acets · actess · actse · acttes · atces · cates

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "actes" and "axés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "actes" is a noun and "axés" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "actes" vs "axés" - which ranks higher?
"actes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,552 in our French list, against #38,660 for "axés". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

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 "axés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #242,178 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "actes" and "axés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aves vs axés". 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 #242,178 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