allumevsallumentWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: allume is a noun, allument is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“allume” is a noun and “allument” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,264
“allume” frequency rank
#32,268
“allument” frequency rank
41532
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature allume allument
Definition Petit morceau de bois qui sert à allumer une cheminée, un poêle, etc. Troisième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent du verbe allumer.

Same sound, different letters: allume vs allument

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. allume runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against allument's 8 (VCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
allume
8 ch
allument

Ear matches; page differs - allume and allument

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: allume and allument carry the same recorded pronunciation, \a.lym\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “allume” sits inside “allument”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41532, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

allume is recorded at frequency rank #9,264, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.lym\. allument is at rank #32,268, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.lym\.

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 41532, this pair ranks #232,405 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of allume vs allument

Shared letters: aelmu. Private to "allume": -. Private to "allument": nt.

"allume" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "allument" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • allume ← allmue · alluem · allumme · alulme · alume · lalume
  • allument ← allmuent · alluemnt · allumennt · allumentt · allumetn · allumment · allumnet · alulment

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "allume" and "allument" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "allume" is a noun and "allument" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "allume" vs "allument" - which ranks higher?
"allume" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,264 in our French list, against #32,268 for "allument". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "allume" / "allument". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "allume" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "allument" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #232,405 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "allume" and "allument" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "allument vs allumez". 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 #232,405 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