amplevsâpreWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#17,613
“ample” frequency rank
#29,604
“âpre” frequency rank
47217
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ample âpre
Definition Qui dépasse en largeur et en longueur la mesure ordinaire. Qui, par sa rudesse ou son âcreté, produit une sensation désagréable aux organes du toucher, de l’ouïe ou du goût.

Where the eye mixes ample and âpre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

5 ch
ample
4 ch
âpre

Why the eye confuses ample with âpre

A purely visual mix-up. ample (\ɑ̃pl\) and âpre (\ɑpʁ\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47217, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ample is recorded at frequency rank #17,613, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃pl\. âpre is at rank #29,604, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑpʁ\.

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 47217, this pair ranks #188,625 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ample vs âpre

Shared letters: ep. Private to "ample": alm. Private to "âpre": .

"ample" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "âpre" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ampleamlpe · ammple · ampel · amplle · ampple · apmle

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ample" and "âpre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃pl\ versus \ɑpʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "ample" or "âpre" show up more?
"ample" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,613 in our French list, against #29,604 for "âpre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "ample" and "âpre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ample" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "âpre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #188,625 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ample" and "âpre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "âpre vs aur". 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 #188,625 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