amadouvsamidonWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#24,853
“amadou” frequency rank
#26,254
“amidon” frequency rank
51107
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature amadou amidon
Definition Substance végétale extraite principalement de l'amadouvier (Fomes fomentarius) mais aussi d'autres champignons dont la chair est coupée puis traitée à l'hydroxyde de potassium, c'est ce produit qui une fois sec servait d'hémostatique. Pour être utilisée dans les briquets cette substance était ensuite nitrée Polysaccharide composé de chaînes de molécules de D-glucose nommées amylose et amylopectine qu’on retire des organes de réserves de nombreuses plantes comme le tubercule de la pomme de terre ou les grains de maïs.

Where the eye mixes amadou and amidon

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
amadou
6 ch
amidon

Look-alike desk: amadou vs amidon

A purely visual mix-up. amadou (\a.ma.du\) and amidon (\a.mi.dɔ̃\) 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 51107, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

amadou is recorded at frequency rank #24,853, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ma.du\. amidon is at rank #26,254, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.mi.dɔ̃\.

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 51107, this pair ranks #157,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of amadou vs amidon

Shared letters: admo. Private to "amadou": u. Private to "amidon": in.

"amadou" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV  ·  "amidon" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • amadouaamdou · amaddou · amaduo · amaodu · amdaou · maadou
  • amidonaimdon · amdion · amiddon · amidno · amidonn · amiodn · ammidon · maidon

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "amadou" and "amidon" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\a.ma.du\ versus \a.mi.dɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "amadou" or "amidon"?
"amadou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,853 in our French list, against #26,254 for "amidon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "amadou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "amidon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #157,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "amadou" and "amidon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Aiden vs amidon". 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 #157,537 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