affranchivsaffranchirWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#34,849
“affranchi” frequency rank
#17,332
“affranchir” frequency rank
52181
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature affranchi affranchir
Definition Libre de droit. Rendre libre ; déclarer libre.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set affranchi and affranchir apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
affranchi
10 ch
affranchir

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: affranchi is \a.fʁɑ̃.ʃi\ while affranchir is \a.fʁɑ̃.ʃiʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “affranchi” sits inside “affranchir”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52181, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

affranchi is recorded at frequency rank #34,849, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.fʁɑ̃.ʃi\. affranchir is at rank #17,332, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.fʁɑ̃.ʃiʁ\.

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 52181, this pair ranks #149,532 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of affranchi vs affranchir

Shared letters: acfhinr. Private to "affranchi": -. Private to "affranchir": -.

"affranchi" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCCV  ·  "affranchir" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • affranchiaffarnchi · affracnhi · affrancchi · affranchhi · affrancih · affranhci · affrannchi · affrnachi
  • affranchiraffarnchir · affracnhir · affrancchir · affranchhir · affranchirr · affranchri · affrancihr · affranhcir

Frequency comparison

affranchi#34,849
affranchir#17,332

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "affranchi" and "affranchir" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "affranchi" is an adjective and "affranchir" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "affranchi" or "affranchir"?
"affranchir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,332 in our French list, against #34,849 for "affranchi". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering affranchi vs affranchir

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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