animavsanimerWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#32,274
“anima” frequency rank
#12,714
“animer” frequency rank
44988
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature anima animer
Definition Représentation féminine au sein de l’imaginaire de l'homme. Douer de vie un corps organisé.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set anima and animer apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
anima
6 ch
animer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: anima is \a.ni.ma\ while animer is \a.ni.me\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44988, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

anima is recorded at frequency rank #32,274, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ni.ma\. animer is at rank #12,714, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.ni.me\.

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 44988, this pair ranks #206,261 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of anima vs animer

Shared letters: aimn. Private to "anima": -. Private to "animer": er.

"anima" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV  ·  "animer" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • animaainma · aniam · animma · anmia · annima · naima
  • animerainmer · aniemr · animerr · animmer · animre · anmier · annimer · naimer

Frequency comparison

anima#32,274
animer#12,714

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "anima" and "animer" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "anima" is a noun and "animer" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "anima" or "animer"?
"animer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,714 in our French list, against #32,274 for "anima". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering anima vs animer

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “anima”; for a verb, it's “animer”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “anima” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list