Which to use
“ennuient” is a verb and “ennuis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,146
- “ennuient” frequency rank
- #10,150
- “ennuis” frequency rank
- 40296
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ennuient | ennuis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de ennuyer. | Pluriel de ennui. |
Same sound, different letters: ennuient vs ennuis
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. ennuient runs 8 letters (VCCVVVCC) against ennuis's 6 (VCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - ennuient and ennuis
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: ennuient and ennuis carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.nɥi\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40296, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ennuient is recorded at frequency rank #30,146, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.nɥi\. ennuis is at rank #10,150, tagged as anoun, 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 40296, this pair ranks #241,578 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ennuient vs ennuis
Shared letters: einu. Private to "ennuient": t. Private to "ennuis": s.
"ennuient" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVVCC · "ennuis" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ennuient" and "ennuis" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "ennuient" or "ennuis"?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "ennuient" / "ennuis". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "ennuient" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ennuis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #241,578 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ennuient" and "ennuis" 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 #241,578 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.