Which to use
“aimée” and “année” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,064
- “aimée” frequency rank
- #173
- “année” frequency rank
- 8237
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aimée | année |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celle qui est aimée. | Subdivision du temps, correspondant à la durée d’une révolution de la Terre autour du Soleil, qui comporte 365 jours (ou 366 jours dans l’année bissextile), 52 semaines environ, 12 mois solaires. |
Where the eye mixes aimée and année
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. aimée (VVCVV) and année (VCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses aimée with année
A purely visual mix-up. aimée (\e.me\) and année (\a.ne\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8237, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aimée is recorded at frequency rank #8,064, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.me\. année is at rank #173, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.ne\.
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 8237, this pair ranks #420,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of aimée vs année
Shared letters: aeé. Private to "aimée": im. Private to "année": n.
"aimée" · 5 letters · shape VVCVV · "année" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "aimée" and "année" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "aimée" or "année" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "aimée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "année" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,708 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aimée" and "année" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "actée vs aimée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #420,708 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.