Which to use
“ahem” is an intj and “aies” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #46,566
- “ahem” frequency rank
- #9,592
- “aies” frequency rank
- 56158
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ahem | aies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Hum. | Deuxième personne du singulier du subjonctif présent du verbe avoir. |
Where the eye mixes ahem and aies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ahem (VCVC) and aies (VVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: ahem vs aies
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ahem is \a.ˈhe.m\ while aies is \ɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (intj vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56158, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ahem is recorded at frequency rank #46,566, classified as anintj, pronounced \a.ˈhe.m\. aies is at rank #9,592, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ\.
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 56158, this pair ranks #122,869 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ahem vs aies
Shared letters: ae. Private to "ahem": hm. Private to "aies": is.
"ahem" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "aies" · 4 letters · shape VVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ahem" for "aies" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ahem" or "aies"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ahem" and "aies" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ahem" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #122,869 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ahem" and "aies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ahem vs aves". 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 #122,869 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.