aes vs après, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“aes” is an adjective and “après” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,143
“aes” frequency rank: #76
“après” frequency rank: 42219
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	aes	après
Definition	Aisé, facile.	Marque la postériorité dans le temps.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set aes and après apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

aes

5 ch

après

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aes is \ˈɛːs\ while après is \a.pʁɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42219, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aes is recorded at frequency rank #42,143, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈɛːs\. après is at rank #76, tagged as aprep, pronounced \a.pʁɛ\.

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 42219, this pair ranks #227,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aes vs après

Shared letters: as. Private to "aes": e. Private to "après": prè.

"aes" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "après" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Frequency comparison

aes#42,143

après#76

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aes" and "après" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "aes" is an adjective and "après" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "aes" or "après"?

"après" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #76 in our French list, against #42,143 for "aes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering aes vs après

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “aes”; for a preposition, it's “après”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “aes” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable