avesvsavisTell them apart

Which to use

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

#49,508
“aves” frequency rank
#503
“avis” frequency rank
50011
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aves avis
Definition Pluriel de ave. Ce que l’on pense et aussi ce que l’on en dit ; opinion.

Where the eye mixes aves and avis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
aves
4 ch
avis

Why the eye confuses aves with avis

A purely visual mix-up. aves (\ˈa.βes\) and avis (\a.vi\) 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 a single letter - e in “aves” becomes i in “avis”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50011, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aves is recorded at frequency rank #49,508, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈa.βes\. avis is at rank #503, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.vi\.

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 50011, this pair ranks #165,993 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of aves vs avis

Shared letters: asv. Private to "aves": e. Private to "avis": i.

"aves" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "avis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • avesaevs · avess · avves
  • avisaivs · aviss · avsi · avvis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aves" and "avis" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈa.βes\ versus \a.vi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aves" or "avis"?
"avis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #503 in our French list, against #49,508 for "aves". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "aves" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "avis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #165,993 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "aves" and "avis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "avéra vs aves". 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 #165,993 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