Which to use
“année” and “apnée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #173
- “année” frequency rank
- #27,318
- “apnée” frequency rank
- 27491
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | année | apnée |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Absence, suspension volontaire de la respiration. |
Where the eye mixes année and apnée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. année and apnée follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between année and apnée
A purely visual mix-up. année (\a.ne\) 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 a single letter - n in “année” becomes p in “apnée”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27491, 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\. 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 27491, this pair ranks #328,632 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of année vs apnée
Shared letters: aené. Private to "année": -. Private to "apnée": p.
"année" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV · "apnée" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "année" and "apnée" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "année" vs "apnée" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "année" and "apnée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "année" 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 #328,632 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "année" and "apnée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "actée vs apnée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #328,632 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.