Which to use
“aya” is a noun and “aye” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,065
- “aya” frequency rank
- #31,835
- “aye” frequency rank
- 59900
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | aya | aye |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Femme de chambre indigène, dans l’Inde et autour de l’Océan Indien, qui s’occupe de la maison et des enfants. | Première personne du singulier du subjonctif présent du verbe avoir. |
Where the eye mixes aya and aye
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between aya and aye
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: aya is \a.ja\ while aye is \ɛ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - a in “aya” becomes e in “aye”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59900, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
aya is recorded at frequency rank #28,065, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ja\. aye is at rank #31,835, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ\.
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 59900, this pair ranks #100,578 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of aya vs aye
Shared letters: ay. Private to "aya": -. Private to "aye": e.
"aya" · 3 letters · shape VVV · "aye" · 3 letters · shape VVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "aya" for "aye" ever safe?
Frequency check: "aya" vs "aye" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "aya" and "aye" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "aya" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aye" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #100,578 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "aya" and "aye" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aves vs aye". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #100,578 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.