âgésvsalsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: âgés is a adjective, als is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“âgés” is an adjective and “als” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,016
“âgés” frequency rank
#23,096
“als” frequency rank
30112
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature âgés als
Definition Masculin pluriel de âgé. Pronom de la troisième personne du singulier utilisé pour parler de plusieurs personnes peu importe(nt) leur(s) genre(s).

Where the eye mixes âgés and als

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
âgés
3 ch
als

Why the eye confuses âgés with als

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: âgés is \a.ʒe\ while als is \al\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30112, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

âgés is recorded at frequency rank #7,016, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.ʒe\. als is at rank #23,096, tagged as apron, pronounced \al\.

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 30112, this pair ranks #312,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of âgés vs als

Shared letters: s. Private to "âgés": gâé. Private to "als": al.

"âgés" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "als" · 3 letters · shape VCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "âgés" for "als" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "âgés" is an adjective and "als" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "âgés" or "als" show up more?
"âgés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,016 in our French list, against #23,096 for "als". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "âgés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "als" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #312,423 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "âgés" and "als" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "als vs aves". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #312,423 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