apprendvsapprendreWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“apprend” and “apprendre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#2,350
“apprend” frequency rank
#956
“apprendre” frequency rank
3306
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apprend apprendre
Definition Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de apprendre. Acquérir une connaissance ou un savoir-faire.

Where the eye mixes apprend and apprendre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
apprend
9 ch
apprendre

Look-alike desk: apprend vs apprendre

A purely visual mix-up. apprend (\a.pʁɑ̃\) and apprendre (\a.pʁɑ̃dʁ\) 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 extra letter(s) - “apprend” sits inside “apprendre”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3306, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apprend is recorded at frequency rank #2,350, classified as averb, pronounced \a.pʁɑ̃\. apprendre is at rank #956, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.pʁɑ̃dʁ\.

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 3306, this pair ranks #434,351 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of apprend vs apprendre

Shared letters: adenpr. Private to "apprend": -. Private to "apprendre": -.

"apprend" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCC  ·  "apprendre" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apprendappernd · appredn · apprendd · apprennd · apprned · apprrend · aprend · aprpend
  • apprendreapperndre · apprednre · apprenddre · apprender · apprendrre · apprenndre · apprenrde · apprnedre

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "apprend" and "apprendre" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.pʁɑ̃\ versus \a.pʁɑ̃dʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "apprend" vs "apprendre" - which ranks higher?
"apprendre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #956 in our French list, against #2,350 for "apprend". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "apprend" and "apprendre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "apprend" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apprendre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #434,351 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apprend" and "apprendre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apprendrai vs apprendre". 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 #434,351 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