avecvsavezWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: avec is a preposition, avez is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“avec” is a preposition and “avez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#32
“avec” frequency rank
#262
“avez” frequency rank
294
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature avec avez
Definition Conjointement à ; en compagnie de. Note d’usage : La préposition est généralement suivie d'un pronom, à l'exception notable des régions linguistiques sous l'influence des langues germaniques comme l'Alsace, la Belgique et la Suisse, où la préposition est placée parfois en position finale sans être suivie d'un pronom. Ainsi, alors que le reste de la France dit « tu viens avec moi/nous ? », on entend parfois le long de la frontière germanophone « tu viens avec ? », comme traduction mot à mot de l'allemand « Du kommst mit? » (« tu m'accompagnes » ) et du néerlandais « kom jij mee? ». Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de avoir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set avec and avez apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
avec
4 ch
avez

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

avec and avez form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by a single letter - c in “avec” becomes z in “avez” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 294, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

avec is recorded at frequency rank #32, classified as aprep, pronounced \a.vɛk\. avez is at rank #262, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.ve\.

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 294, this pair ranks #439,868 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Frequency comparison

avec#32
avez#262

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "avec" and "avez" be used interchangeably?
No, "avec" and "avez" have distinct meanings and cannot be swapped without changing the meaning of a sentence. Understanding the specific definition and context for each word is essential for correct usage.

Remembering avec vs avez

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a preposition, it's “avec”; for a verb, it's “avez”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “avec” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list