amputervsappuyerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,700
“amputer” frequency rank
#4,546
“appuyer” frequency rank
41246
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature amputer appuyer
Definition Enlever, à l’aide d’instruments tranchants, un membre, une partie du corps. Placer contre quelque chose.

Where the eye mixes amputer and appuyer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
amputer
7 ch
appuyer

Look-alike desk: amputer vs appuyer

A purely visual mix-up. amputer (\ɑ̃.py.te\) and appuyer (\a.pɥi.je\) 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 41246, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

amputer is recorded at frequency rank #36,700, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.py.te\. appuyer is at rank #4,546, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.pɥi.je\.

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 41246, this pair ranks #234,499 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of amputer vs appuyer

Shared letters: aepru. Private to "amputer": mt. Private to "appuyer": y.

"amputer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "appuyer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • amputerammputer · ampputer · amptuer · ampuetr · amputerr · amputre · amputter · amupter
  • appuyerappueyr · appuyerr · appuyre · appuyyer · appyuer · apupyer · apuyer · papuyer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "amputer" and "appuyer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.py.te\ versus \a.pɥi.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "amputer" or "appuyer"?
"appuyer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,546 in our French list, against #36,700 for "amputer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "amputer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "appuyer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #234,499 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "amputer" and "appuyer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amputée vs amputer". 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 #234,499 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