Which to use
“apparaît” and “appuyait” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,257
- “apparaît” frequency rank
- #32,277
- “appuyait” frequency rank
- 34534
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | apparaît | appuyait |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de apparaître. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif imparfait du verbe appuyer. |
Where the eye mixes apparaît and appuyait
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. apparaît (VCCVCVVC) and appuyait (VCCVVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: apparaît vs appuyait
A purely visual mix-up. apparaît (\a.pa.ʁɛ\) and appuyait (\a.pɥi.jɛ\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34534, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
apparaît is recorded at frequency rank #2,257, classified as averb, pronounced \a.pa.ʁɛ\. appuyait is at rank #32,277, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.pɥi.jɛ\.
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 34534, this pair ranks #283,142 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of apparaît vs appuyait
Shared letters: apt. Private to "apparaît": rî. Private to "appuyait": iuy.
"apparaît" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC · "appuyait" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- appuyait ← appuayit · appuyaitt · appuyati · appuyiat · appuyyait · appyuait · apupyait · apuyait
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "apparaît" and "appuyait" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "apparaît" vs "appuyait" - 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 "apparaît" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "appuyait" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #283,142 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "apparaît" and "appuyait" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "appuya vs appuyait". 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 #283,142 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.