annéevsannoWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: année is a noun, anno is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“année” is a noun and “anno” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#173
“année” frequency rank
#31,817
“anno” frequency rank
31990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature année anno
Definition Subdivision du temps, correspondant à la durée d’une révolution de la Terre autour du Soleil, qui comporte 365 jours (ou 366 jours dans l’année bissextile), 52 semaines environ, 12 mois solaires. En l'an.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set année and anno apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
année
4 ch
anno

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: année is \a.ne\ while anno is \ˈano\. 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 adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

année is recorded at frequency rank #173, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ne\. anno is at rank #31,817, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ˈano\.

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 31990, this pair ranks #300,276 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of année vs anno

Shared letters: an. Private to "année": . Private to "anno": o.

"année" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV  ·  "anno" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • annoano · anon

Frequency comparison

année#173
anno#31,817

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "année" and "anno" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "année" is a noun and "anno" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "année" or "anno"?
"année" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #173 in our French list, against #31,817 for "anno". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering année vs anno

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “année”; for an adverb, it's “anno”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “année” 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