Which to use
“ange” and “apnée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,053
- “ange” frequency rank
- #27,318
- “apnée” frequency rank
- 30371
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ange | apnée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Créature purement spirituelle, qu’on représente sous figure humaine, avec des ailes, et qui désigne tantôt un envoyé céleste, tantôt un pur esprit intermédiaire entre Dieu et l’humanité. | Absence, suspension volontaire de la respiration. |
Where the eye mixes ange and apnée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ange runs 4 letters (VCCV) against apnée's 5 (VCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: ange vs apnée
A purely visual mix-up. ange (\ɑ̃ʒ\) and apnée (\ap.ne\) 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 30371, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ange is recorded at frequency rank #3,053, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃ʒ\. apnée is at rank #27,318, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ap.ne\.
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 30371, this pair ranks #310,774 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ange vs apnée
Shared letters: aen. Private to "ange": g. Private to "apnée": pé.
"ange" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "apnée" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ange ← agne · aneg · angge · annge
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ange" for "apnée" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ange" vs "apnée" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ange" and "apnée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ange" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "apnée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #310,774 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ange" and "apnée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "actée vs apnée". 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 #310,774 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.