alignevsalignerConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#21,230
“aligne” frequency rank
#13,308
“aligner” frequency rank
34538
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aligne aligner
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe aligner. Ranger, dresser sur une même ligne droite.

Where the eye mixes aligne and aligner

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

6 ch
aligne
7 ch
aligner

Why the eye confuses aligne with aligner

A purely visual mix-up. aligne (\a.liɲ\) and aligner (\a.li.ɲe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “aligne” sits inside “aligner”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34538, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aligne is recorded at frequency rank #21,230, classified as averb, pronounced \a.liɲ\. aligner is at rank #13,308, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.li.ɲe\.

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 34538, this pair ranks #283,107 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aligne vs aligner

Shared letters: aegiln. Private to "aligne": -. Private to "aligner": r.

"aligne" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "aligner" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aligneailgne · algine · aligen · aliggne · alignne · alinge · alligne · laigne
  • alignerailgner · alginer · aligenr · aliggner · alignerr · alignner · alignre · alinger

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aligne" and "aligner" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.liɲ\ versus \a.li.ɲe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "aligne" or "aligner" show up more?
"aligner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,308 in our French list, against #21,230 for "aligne". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "aligne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "aligner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #283,107 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aligne" and "aligner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aligne vs alizé". 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 #283,107 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