advancevsavancerWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: advance is a adjective, avancer is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“advance” is an adjective and “avancer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,720
“advance” frequency rank
#2,503
“avancer” frequency rank
45223
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature advance avancer
Definition Terminé avant la date prévue, avancé. Pousser en avant ; porter en avant.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set advance and avancer apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
advance
7 ch
avancer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: advance is \ədˈvɑːns\ while avancer is \a.vɑ̃.se\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 6 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

advance is recorded at frequency rank #42,720, classified as anadj, pronounced \ədˈvɑːns\. avancer is at rank #2,503, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.vɑ̃.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 45223, this pair ranks #204,410 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of advance vs avancer

Shared letters: acenv. Private to "advance": d. Private to "avancer": r.

"advance" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "avancer" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • advanceadavnce · addvance · advacne · advancce · advanec · advannce · advnace · advvance
  • avanceraavncer · avacner · avanccer · avancerr · avancre · avanecr · avanncer · avnacer

Frequency comparison

advance#42,720
avancer#2,503

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "advance" and "avancer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "advance" is an adjective and "avancer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "advance" or "avancer"?
"avancer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,503 in our French list, against #42,720 for "advance". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering advance vs avancer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “advance”; for a verb, it's “avancer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “advance” 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