ajoutervsamputerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“ajouter” and “amputer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#1,648
“ajouter” frequency rank
#36,700
“amputer” frequency rank
38348
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ajouter amputer
Definition Mettre en plus. Enlever, à l’aide d’instruments tranchants, un membre, une partie du corps.

Where the eye mixes ajouter and amputer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
ajouter
7 ch
amputer

Why the eye confuses ajouter with amputer

A purely visual mix-up. ajouter (\a.ʒu.te\) and amputer (\ɑ̃.py.te\) 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 38348, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ajouter is recorded at frequency rank #1,648, classified as averb, pronounced \a.ʒu.te\. amputer is at rank #36,700, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.py.te\.

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 38348, this pair ranks #255,859 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ajouter vs amputer

Shared letters: aertu. Private to "ajouter": jo. Private to "amputer": mp.

"ajouter" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC  ·  "amputer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ajouterajjouter · ajotuer · ajouetr · ajouterr · ajoutre · ajoutter · ajuoter · aojuter
  • amputerammputer · ampputer · amptuer · ampuetr · amputerr · amputre · amputter · amupter

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ajouter" and "amputer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.ʒu.te\ versus \ɑ̃.py.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ajouter" vs "amputer" - which ranks higher?
"ajouter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,648 in our French list, against #36,700 for "amputer". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "ajouter" and "amputer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ajouter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "amputer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #255,859 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ajouter" and "amputer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amputée vs amputer". 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 #255,859 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