asthmevsatomeConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#16,299
“asthme” frequency rank
#15,092
“atome” frequency rank
31391
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature asthme atome
Definition Inflammation chronique et évolutive des bronches, entraînant une bronchoconstriction et une gêne respiratoire à l'expiration. Composant de la matière, plus petite partie d’un corps simple pouvant se combiner avec une autre.

Where the eye mixes asthme and atome

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. asthme runs 6 letters (VCCCCV) against atome's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
asthme
5 ch
atome

Look-alike desk: asthme vs atome

A purely visual mix-up. asthme (\asm\) and atome (\a.tom\) 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 31391, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

asthme is recorded at frequency rank #16,299, classified as anoun, pronounced \asm\. atome is at rank #15,092, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.tom\.

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 31391, this pair ranks #304,084 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of asthme vs atome

Shared letters: aemt. Private to "asthme": hs. Private to "atome": o.

"asthme" · 6 letters · shape VCCCCV  ·  "atome" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • asthme ← ashtme · assthme · asthem · asthhme · asthmme · astmhe · astthme · atshme
  • atome ← aotme · atmoe · atoem · atomme · attome · taome

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "asthme" for "atome" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\asm\ versus \a.tom\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "asthme" vs "atome" - which ranks higher?
"atome" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,092 in our French list, against #16,299 for "asthme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "asthme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "atome" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #304,084 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "asthme" and "atome" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atome vs atos". 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 #304,084 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