ennuiesvsennuyerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“ennuies” and “ennuyer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#35,019
“ennuies” frequency rank
#13,374
“ennuyer” frequency rank
48393
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ennuies ennuyer
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de ennuyer. Causer de l’ennui, fatiguer l’esprit par quelque chose d’insignifiant, de monotone, de déplaisant, ou de trop long.

Where the eye mixes ennuies and ennuyer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. ennuies and ennuyer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
ennuies
7 ch
ennuyer

Why the eye confuses ennuies with ennuyer

A purely visual mix-up. ennuies (\ɑ̃.nɥi\) and ennuyer (\ɑ̃.nɥi.je\) 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 48393, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ennuies is recorded at frequency rank #35,019, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.nɥi\. ennuyer is at rank #13,374, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.nɥi.je\.

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 48393, this pair ranks #179,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ennuies vs ennuyer

Shared letters: enu. Private to "ennuies": is. Private to "ennuyer": ry.

"ennuies" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC  ·  "ennuyer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ennuiesenniues · ennueis · ennuiess · ennuise · enuies · enunies · nenuies
  • ennuyerennueyr · ennuyerr · ennuyre · ennuyyer · ennyuer · enunyer · enuyer · nenuyer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ennuies" and "ennuyer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.nɥi\ versus \ɑ̃.nɥi.je\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "ennuies" or "ennuyer" show up more?
"ennuyer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,374 in our French list, against #35,019 for "ennuies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ennuies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ennuyer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #179,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ennuies" and "ennuyer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ennuies vs ennuyée". 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 #179,283 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list