aekvsansWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#49,464
“aek” frequency rank
#90
“ans” frequency rank
49554
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aek ans
Definition Zone radiale entre A et E (roue matricielle). Pluriel de an.

Where the eye mixes aek and ans

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. aek (VVC) and ans (VCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

3 ch
aek
3 ch
ans

Visual trap between aek and ans

A purely visual mix-up. aek (\aˈɛk\) and ans (\ɑ̃\) 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 49554, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aek is recorded at frequency rank #49,464, classified as anoun, pronounced \aˈɛk\. ans is at rank #90, 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 49554, this pair ranks #169,684 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aek vs ans

Shared letters: a. Private to "aek": ek. Private to "ans": ns.

"aek" · 3 letters · shape VVC  ·  "ans" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "aek" for "ans" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\aˈɛk\ versus \ɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aek" or "ans"?
"ans" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #90 in our French list, against #49,464 for "aek". 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 "aek" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ans" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #169,684 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aek" and "ans" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aek vs aves". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #169,684 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