Which to use
“alterne” is an adjective and “antenne” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,852
- “alterne” frequency rank
- #5,423
- “antenne” frequency rank
- 30275
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alterne | antenne |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Désigne les angles formés par deux droites parallèles, avec les côtés opposés d’une même sécante. | Longue vergue qui s’attache obliquement au mât, pour soutenir une voile triangulaire. |
Where the eye mixes alterne and antenne
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. alterne and antenne follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between alterne and antenne
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: alterne is \al.tɛʁn\ while antenne is \ɑ̃.tɛn\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30275, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alterne is recorded at frequency rank #24,852, classified as anadj, pronounced \al.tɛʁn\. antenne is at rank #5,423, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.tɛn\.
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 30275, this pair ranks #311,417 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of alterne vs antenne
Shared letters: aent. Private to "alterne": lr. Private to "antenne": -.
"alterne" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "antenne" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "alterne" and "antenne" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "alterne" or "antenne" show up more?
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 "alterne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "antenne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #311,417 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "alterne" and "antenne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aliéné vs alterne". 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 #311,417 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.