apprendrevsapprenneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#956
“apprendre” frequency rank
#16,804
“apprenne” frequency rank
17760
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apprendre apprenne
Definition Acquérir une connaissance ou un savoir-faire. Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif de apprendre.

Where the eye mixes apprendre and apprenne

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. apprendre runs 9 letters (VCCCVCCCV) against apprenne's 8 (VCCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
apprendre
8 ch
apprenne

Look-alike desk: apprendre vs apprenne

A purely visual mix-up. apprendre (\a.pʁɑ̃dʁ\) and apprenne (\a.pʁɛn\) 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 17760, 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\. apprenne is at rank #16,804, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.pʁɛn\.

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 17760, this pair ranks #381,608 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of apprendre vs apprenne

Shared letters: aenpr. Private to "apprendre": d. Private to "apprenne": -.

"apprendre" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCCV  ·  "apprenne" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apprendre ← apperndre · apprednre · apprenddre · apprender · apprendrre · apprenndre · apprenrde · apprnedre
  • apprenne ← appernne · apprene · apprenen · apprnene · apprrenne · aprenne · aprpenne · paprenne

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "apprendre" for "apprenne" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\a.pʁɑ̃dʁ\ versus \a.pʁɛn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "apprendre" or "apprenne"?
"apprendre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #956 in our French list, against #16,804 for "apprenne". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "apprendre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apprenne" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #381,608 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apprendre" and "apprenne" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apprenne vs apprentie". 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 #381,608 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