Which to use
“ambre” and “are” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,062
- “ambre” frequency rank
- #6,166
- “are” frequency rank
- 23228
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ambre | are |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Oléorésine fossile provenant d’arbres résineux utilisée pour la fabrication d’objets ornementaux → voir ambre jaune et succin. | Unité de mesure de surface de terrains, égale à 100 mètres carrés. |
Where the eye mixes ambre and are
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ambre runs 5 letters (VCCCV) against are's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: ambre vs are
A purely visual mix-up. ambre (\ɑ̃bʁ\) and are (\aʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23228, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ambre is recorded at frequency rank #17,062, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃bʁ\. are is at rank #6,166, tagged as anoun, pronounced \aʁ\.
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 23228, this pair ranks #353,691 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ambre vs are
Shared letters: aer. Private to "ambre": bm. Private to "are": -.
"ambre" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV · "are" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ambre ← abmre · ambbre · ambrre · ammbre · amrbe · mabre
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ambre" for "are" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ambre" vs "are" - which ranks higher?
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 "ambre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "are" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #353,691 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ambre" and "are" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ambre vs Aure". 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 #353,691 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.