avonvsayonsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: avon is a noun, ayons is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“avon” is a noun and “ayons” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,483
“avon” frequency rank
#9,961
“ayons” frequency rank
40444
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature avon ayons
Definition Rivière. Première personne du pluriel du présent du subjonctif du verbe auxiliaire avoir.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch
avon
5 ch
ayons

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: avon is \ˈaːvôn\ while ayons is \ɛ.jɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40444, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

avon is recorded at frequency rank #30,483, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈaːvôn\. ayons is at rank #9,961, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ.jɔ̃\.

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 40444, this pair ranks #240,450 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of avon vs ayons

Shared letters: ano. Private to "avon": v. Private to "ayons": sy.

"avon" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "ayons" · 5 letters · shape VVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • avonaovn · avno · avonn · avvon · vaon
  • ayonsaoyns · aynos · ayonns · ayonss · ayosn · ayyons · yaons

Frequency comparison

avon#30,483
ayons#9,961

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "avon" and "ayons" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "avon" is a noun and "ayons" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "avon" or "ayons"?
"ayons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,961 in our French list, against #30,483 for "avon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering avon vs ayons

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “avon”; for a verb, it's “ayons”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “avon” 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