Which to use
“énerver” and “enfermer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,619
- “énerver” frequency rank
- #9,651
- “enfermer” frequency rank
- 20270
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | énerver | enfermer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Agacer en produisant une irritation nerveuse. | Mettre quelqu’un ou quelque chose dans un lieu fermé de tous côtés. |
Where the eye mixes énerver and enfermer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. énerver runs 7 letters (VCVCCVC) against enfermer's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses énerver with enfermer
A purely visual mix-up. énerver (\e.nɛʁ.ve\) and enfermer (\ɑ̃.fɛʁ.me\) 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 20270, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
énerver is recorded at frequency rank #10,619, classified as averb, pronounced \e.nɛʁ.ve\. enfermer is at rank #9,651, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.fɛʁ.me\.
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 20270, this pair ranks #369,135 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of énerver vs enfermer
Shared letters: enr. Private to "énerver": vé. Private to "enfermer": fm.
"énerver" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC · "enfermer" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- enfermer ← efnermer · enefrmer · enfemrer · enferemr · enfermerr · enfermmer · enfermre · enferrmer
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "énerver" and "enfermer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "énerver" or "enfermer" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "énerver" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "enfermer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #369,135 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "énerver" and "enfermer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enferment vs enfermer". 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 #369,135 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.