apprendrevsapprendsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#956
“apprendre” frequency rank
#5,424
“apprends” frequency rank
6380
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the eye mixes apprendre and apprends

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

9 ch
apprendre
8 ch
apprends

Visual trap between apprendre and apprends

A purely visual mix-up. apprendre (\a.pʁɑ̃dʁ\) and apprends (\a.pʁɑ̃\) 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 6380, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apprendre is recorded at frequency rank #956, classified as averb, pronounced \a.pʁɑ̃dʁ\. apprends is at rank #5,424, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.pʁɑ̃\.

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 6380, this pair ranks #426,401 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of apprendre vs apprends

Shared letters: adenpr. Private to "apprendre": -. Private to "apprends": s.

"apprendre" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCCV  ·  "apprends" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apprendreapperndre · apprednre · apprenddre · apprender · apprendrre · apprenndre · apprenrde · apprnedre
  • apprendsappernds · appredns · apprendds · apprendss · apprennds · apprensd · apprneds · apprrends

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "apprendre" and "apprends" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\a.pʁɑ̃dʁ\ versus \a.pʁɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "apprendre" vs "apprends" - which ranks higher?
"apprendre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #956 in our French list, against #5,424 for "apprends". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "apprendre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apprends" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #426,401 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apprendre" and "apprends" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apprenais vs apprends". 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 #426,401 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