Which to use
“ape” and “aves” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #34,411
- “ape” frequency rank
- #49,508
- “aves” frequency rank
- 83919
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ape | aves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Triporteur à moteur. | Pluriel de ave. |
Where the eye mixes ape and aves
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. ape runs 3 letters (VCV) against aves's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: ape vs aves
A purely visual mix-up. ape (\a.pe\) and aves (\ˈa.βes\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83919, 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\. aves is at rank #49,508, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈa.βes\.
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 83919, this pair ranks #13,925 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ape vs aves
Shared letters: ae. Private to "ape": p. Private to "aves": sv.
"ape" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "aves" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- aves ← aevs · avess · avves
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ape" for "aves" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ape" or "aves"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ape" and "aves" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ape" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #13,925 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ape" and "aves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "avéra vs aves". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #13,925 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.