âmesvsamusesTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#5,939
“âmes” frequency rank
#30,052
“amuses” frequency rank
35991
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature âmes amuses
Definition Pluriel de âme. Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe amuser.

Where the eye mixes âmes and amuses

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
âmes
6 ch
amuses

Visual trap between âmes and amuses

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: âmes is \ɑːm\ while amuses is \a.myz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

âmes is recorded at frequency rank #5,939, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑːm\. amuses is at rank #30,052, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.myz\.

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 35991, this pair ranks #272,759 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of âmes vs amuses

Shared letters: ems. Private to "âmes": â. Private to "amuses": au.

"âmes" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "amuses" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • amusesammuses · amsues · amuess · amusess · amusse · amusses · aumses · mauses

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "âmes" and "amuses" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "âmes" is a noun and "amuses" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "âmes" or "amuses"?
"âmes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,939 in our French list, against #30,052 for "amuses". 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 "âmes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "amuses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #272,759 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "âmes" and "amuses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abusée vs amuses". 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 #272,759 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