emballevsembolieWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#21,609
“emballe” frequency rank
#35,923
“embolie” frequency rank
57532
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature emballe embolie
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de emballer. Obstruction d’un vaisseau sanguin par un caillot formé dans un vaisseau plus grand, ou par une bulle de gaz.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set emballe and embolie apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
emballe
7 ch
embolie

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: emballe is \ɑ̃.bal\ while embolie is \ɑ̃.bɔ.li\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57532, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

emballe is recorded at frequency rank #21,609, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.bal\. embolie is at rank #35,923, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.bɔ.li\.

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 57532, this pair ranks #114,487 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of emballe vs embolie

Shared letters: belm. Private to "emballe": a. Private to "embolie": io.

"emballe" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "embolie" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • emballeebmalle · emablle · embale · embalel · embballe · emblale · emmballe · meballe
  • embolieebmolie · embbolie · embloie · emboile · embolei · embollie · emmbolie · emoblie

Frequency comparison

emballe#21,609
embolie#35,923

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "emballe" and "embolie" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "emballe" is a verb and "embolie" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "emballe" or "embolie"?
"emballe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,609 in our French list, against #35,923 for "embolie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering emballe vs embolie

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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