Which to use
“ape” and “apnée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,411
- “ape” frequency rank
- #27,318
- “apnée” frequency rank
- 61729
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ape | apnée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Triporteur à moteur. | Absence, suspension volontaire de la respiration. |
Where the eye mixes ape and apnée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ape runs 3 letters (VCV) against apnée's 5 (VCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: ape vs apnée
A purely visual mix-up. ape (\a.pe\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61729, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ape is recorded at frequency rank #34,411, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.pe\. 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 61729, this pair ranks #90,755 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ape vs apnée
Shared letters: aep. Private to "ape": -. Private to "apnée": né.
"ape" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "apnée" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ape" for "apnée" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ape" vs "apnée" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ape" 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 #90,755 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ape" and "apnée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ape vs aves". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #90,755 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.