Which to use
“ait” is a verb and “avis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #538
- “ait” frequency rank
- #503
- “avis” frequency rank
- 1041
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ait | avis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du subjonctif présent du verbe auxiliaire avoir. | Ce que l’on pense et aussi ce que l’on en dit ; opinion. |
Where the eye mixes ait and avis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ait and avis
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ait is \ɛ\ while avis is \a.vi\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1041, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ait is recorded at frequency rank #538, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ\. avis is at rank #503, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.vi\.
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 1041, this pair ranks #438,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ait vs avis
Shared letters: ai. Private to "ait": t. Private to "avis": sv.
"ait" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "avis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- avis ← aivs · aviss · avsi · avvis
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ait" and "avis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "ait" or "avis" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ait" and "avis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ait" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "avis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ait" and "avis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ait vs aur". 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 #438,726 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.