Which to use
“engins” and “envies” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,994
- “engins” frequency rank
- #9,652
- “envies” frequency rank
- 19646
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | engins | envies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de engin. | Pluriel de envie. |
Where the eye mixes engins and envies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. engins (VCCVCC) and envies (VCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between engins and envies
A purely visual mix-up. engins (\ɑ̃.ʒɛ̃\) and envies (\ɑ̃.vi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19646, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
engins is recorded at frequency rank #9,994, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.ʒɛ̃\. envies is at rank #9,652, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.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 19646, this pair ranks #372,256 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of engins vs envies
Shared letters: eins. Private to "engins": g. Private to "envies": v.
"engins" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC · "envies" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "engins" for "envies" ever safe?
Frequency check: "engins" vs "envies" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "engins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "envies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #372,256 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "engins" and "envies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "envient vs envies". 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 #372,256 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.