Which to use
“adapte” is a verb and “apte” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,269
- “adapte” frequency rank
- #12,518
- “apte” frequency rank
- 22787
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | adapte | apte |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe adapter. | Qui est propre à quelque chose. |
Where the eye mixes adapte and apte
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses adapte with apte
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: adapte is \a.dapt\ while apte is \apt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “apte” sits inside “adapte”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 22787, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
adapte is recorded at frequency rank #10,269, classified as averb, pronounced \a.dapt\. apte is at rank #12,518, tagged as anadj, pronounced \apt\.
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 22787, this pair ranks #356,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of adapte vs apte
Shared letters: aept. Private to "adapte": d. Private to "apte": -.
"adapte" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV · "apte" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "adapte" for "apte" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "adapte" or "apte" show up more?
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 "adapte" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "apte" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #356,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "adapte" and "apte" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apte vs arti". 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 #356,157 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.