Which to use
“avec” is a preposition and “ayez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #32
- “avec” frequency rank
- #5,524
- “ayez” frequency rank
- 5556
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | avec | ayez |
|---|---|---|
| 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 du subjonctif de avoir. |
Where the eye mixes avec and ayez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: avec is \a.vɛk\ while ayez is \ɛ.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5556, 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\. ayez is at rank #5,524, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ.je\.
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 5556, this pair ranks #428,692 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of avec vs ayez
Shared letters: ae. Private to "avec": cv. Private to "ayez": yz.
"avec" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "ayez" · 4 letters · shape VVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "avec" and "ayez" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "avec" or "ayez"?
What to do next
You've compared "avec" and "ayez". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "avec" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ayez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,692 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "avec" and "ayez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aves vs ayez". 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
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.