avérervsavertirWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#15,095
“avérer” frequency rank
#10,641
“avertir” frequency rank
25736
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature avérer avertir
Definition Reconnaître ou faire reconnaître pour vrai. Informer quelqu’un de quelque chose, prévenir une personne.

Where the eye mixes avérer and avertir

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
avérer
7 ch
avertir

Visual trap between avérer and avertir

A purely visual mix-up. avérer (\a.ve.ʁe\) and avertir (\a.vɛʁ.tiʁ\) 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 25736, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

avérer is recorded at frequency rank #15,095, classified as averb, pronounced \a.ve.ʁe\. avertir is at rank #10,641, tagged as averb, pronounced \a.vɛʁ.tiʁ\.

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 25736, this pair ranks #339,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of avérer vs avertir

Shared letters: aerv. Private to "avérer": é. Private to "avertir": it.

"avérer" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "avertir" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • avertiraevrtir · averitr · averrtir · avertirr · avertri · averttir · avetrir · avretir

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "avérer" and "avertir" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\a.ve.ʁe\ versus \a.vɛʁ.tiʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "avérer" or "avertir"?
"avertir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,641 in our French list, against #15,095 for "avérer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "avérer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "avertir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #339,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "avérer" and "avertir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "avéra vs avérer". 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 #339,148 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