Which to use
“amer” is an adjective and “aye” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #10,629
- “amer” frequency rank
- #31,835
- “aye” frequency rank
- 42464
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | amer | aye |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a une saveur âpre et généralement désagréable, comme celle de la quinine ou du café. | Première personne du singulier du subjonctif présent du verbe avoir. |
Where the eye mixes amer and aye
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between amer and aye
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: amer is \a.mɛʁ\ while aye is \ɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42464, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
amer is recorded at frequency rank #10,629, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.mɛʁ\. aye is at rank #31,835, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ\.
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 42464, this pair ranks #225,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of amer vs aye
Shared letters: ae. Private to "amer": mr. Private to "aye": y.
"amer" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "aye" · 3 letters · shape VVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- amer ← aemr · amerr · ammer · amre · maer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "amer" for "aye" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "amer" or "aye" 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 "amer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aye" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #225,424 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "amer" and "aye" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aves vs aye". 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 #225,424 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.