affolevsaffolerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#33,104
“affole” frequency rank
#37,639
“affoler” frequency rank
70743
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature affole affoler
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe affoler. Rendre comme fou.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch
affole
7 ch
affoler

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. affole (\a.fɔl\) and affoler (\a.fɔ.le\) 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 extra letter(s) - “affole” sits inside “affoler”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

affole is recorded at frequency rank #33,104, classified as averb, pronounced \a.fɔl\. affoler is at rank #37,639, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.fɔ.le\.

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 70743, this pair ranks #50,200 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of affole vs affoler

Shared letters: aeflo. Private to "affole": -. Private to "affoler": r.

"affole" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "affoler" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • affoleaffloe · affoel · affolle · afofle · afole · fafole
  • affoleraffloer · affoelr · affolerr · affoller · affolre · afofler · afoler · fafoler

Frequency comparison

affole#33,104
affoler#37,639

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "affole" and "affoler" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.fɔl\ versus \a.fɔ.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "affole" or "affoler"?
"affole" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,104 in our French list, against #37,639 for "affoler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering affole vs affoler

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “affole” 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