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 eye mixes affole and affoler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. affole runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against affoler's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between affole and affoler
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
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "affole" for "affoler" ever safe?
Which is more common, "affole" or "affoler"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "affole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "affoler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,200 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "affole" and "affoler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "affilé vs affoler". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #50,200 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.