Which to use
“apnée” and “armée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,318
- “apnée” frequency rank
- #575
- “armée” frequency rank
- 27893
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | apnée | armée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Absence, suspension volontaire de la respiration. | Ensemble structuré de soldats, avec leur équipement et leurs infrastructures. |
Where the eye mixes apnée and armée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. apnée and armée follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: apnée vs armée
A purely visual mix-up. apnée (\ap.ne\) and armée (\aʁ.me\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27893, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
apnée is recorded at frequency rank #27,318, classified as anoun, pronounced \ap.ne\. armée is at rank #575, tagged as anoun, pronounced \aʁ.me\.
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 27893, this pair ranks #326,108 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of apnée vs armée
Shared letters: aeé. Private to "apnée": np. Private to "armée": mr.
"apnée" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV · "armée" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "apnée" and "armée" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "apnée" or "armée"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "apnée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "armée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #326,108 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "apnée" and "armée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "actée vs apnée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #326,108 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.