Which to use
“ennui” is a noun and “ennuient” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,686
- “ennui” frequency rank
- #30,146
- “ennuient” frequency rank
- 37832
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ennui | ennuient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lassitude, langueur temporaire causée par une occupation dépourvue d’intérêt, monotone, déplaisante ou trop prolongée, ou par le désœuvrement. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de ennuyer. |
Same sound, different letters: ennui vs ennuient
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. ennui runs 5 letters (VCCVV) against ennuient's 8 (VCCVVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: ennui vs ennuient
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: ennui and ennuient carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.nɥi\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 3 extra letter(s) - “ennui” sits inside “ennuient”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37832, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ennui is recorded at frequency rank #7,686, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.nɥi\. ennuient is at rank #30,146, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.nɥi\.
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 37832, this pair ranks #259,659 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ennui vs ennuient
Shared letters: einu. Private to "ennui": -. Private to "ennuient": t.
"ennui" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV · "ennuient" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ennui" and "ennuient" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ennui" or "ennuient"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "ennui" / "ennuient". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "ennui" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ennuient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #259,659 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ennui" and "ennuient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ennuient vs envient". 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 #259,659 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.