applisvsappuiesTell them apart

Quick tell: applis is a noun, appuies is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“applis” is a noun and “appuies” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,871
“applis” frequency rank
#34,868
“appuies” frequency rank
52739
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature applis appuies
Definition Pluriel de appli. Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe appuyer.

Where the eye mixes applis and appuies

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. applis runs 6 letters (VCCCVC) against appuies's 7 (VCCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
applis
7 ch
appuies

Why the eye confuses applis with appuies

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: applis is \a.pli\ while appuies is \a.pɥi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52739, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

applis is recorded at frequency rank #17,871, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.pli\. appuies is at rank #34,868, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.pɥi\.

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 52739, this pair ranks #145,620 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of applis vs appuies

Shared letters: aips. Private to "applis": l. Private to "appuies": eu.

"applis" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC  ·  "appuies" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • applis ← aplis · aplpis · appils · appliss · appllis · applsi · paplis
  • appuies ← appiues · appueis · appuiess · appuise · apuies · apupies · papuies

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "applis" for "appuies" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "applis" is a noun and "appuies" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "applis" vs "appuies" - which ranks higher?
"applis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,871 in our French list, against #34,868 for "appuies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "applis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "appuies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #145,620 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "applis" and "appuies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "appuiera vs appuies". 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 #145,620 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list