adj vs an, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#41,628
“adj” frequency rank: #363
“an” frequency rank: 41991
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	adj	an
Definition	Adjectif.	Temps que met la Terre à accomplir une révolution autour du Soleil et qui se divise en douze mois. Année (voir Notes plus bas).

Where the eye mixes adj and an

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. adj runs 3 letters (VCC) against an's 2 (VC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

3 ch

adj

2 ch

Why the eye confuses adj with an

A purely visual mix-up. adj (\adʒ\) and an (\ɑ̃\) 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 41991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adj is recorded at frequency rank #41,628, classified as anoun, pronounced \adʒ\. an is at rank #363, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃\.

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 41991, this pair ranks #229,017 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of adj vs an

Shared letters: a. Private to "adj": dj. Private to "an": n.

"adj" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "an" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "adj" for "an" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (\adʒ\ versus \ɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "adj" or "an"?

"an" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #363 in our French list, against #41,628 for "adj". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

Full dictionary entry for "adj" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "an" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #229,017 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"adj" and "an" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "adj vs aur". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #229,017 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.