apartvsavaitWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: apart is a adjective, avait is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“apart” is an adjective and “avait” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32,275
“apart” frequency rank
#87
“avait” frequency rank
32362
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apart avait
Definition Chic, classe, charmant. Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe avoir.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
apart
5 ch
avait

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: apart is \aˈpaʁt\ while avait is \a.vɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32362, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apart is recorded at frequency rank #32,275, classified as anadj, pronounced \aˈpaʁt\. avait is at rank #87, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.vɛ\.

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 32362, this pair ranks #297,798 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apart vs avait

Shared letters: at. Private to "apart": pr. Private to "avait": iv.

"apart" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC  ·  "avait" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apartaaprt · aparrt · apartt · apatr · aprat · paart
  • avaitaavit · avaitt · avati · aviat · avvait · vaait

Frequency comparison

apart#32,275
avait#87

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "apart" and "avait" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "apart" is an adjective and "avait" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "apart" or "avait"?
"avait" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #87 in our French list, against #32,275 for "apart". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering apart vs avait

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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