ennuisvsennuyéWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#10,150
“ennuis” frequency rank
#23,197
“ennuyé” frequency rank
33347
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ennuis ennuyé
Definition Pluriel de ennui. Personne qui a des ennuis.

Where the eye mixes ennuis and ennuyé

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
ennuis
6 ch
ennuyé

Why the eye confuses ennuis with ennuyé

A purely visual mix-up. ennuis (\ɑ̃.nɥi\) and ennuyé (\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 33347, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ennuis is recorded at frequency rank #10,150, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.nɥi\. ennuyé is at rank #23,197, tagged as anoun, 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 33347, this pair ranks #291,247 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ennuis vs ennuyé

Shared letters: enu. Private to "ennuis": is. Private to "ennuyé": .

"ennuis" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC  ·  "ennuyé" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ennuisennius · ennuiss · ennusi · enuis · enunis · nenuis

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ennuis" for "ennuyé" ever safe?
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.
Which is more common, "ennuis" or "ennuyé"?
"ennuis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,150 in our French list, against #23,197 for "ennuyé". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "ennuis" and "ennuyé" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ennuis" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ennuyé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #291,247 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ennuis" and "ennuyé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ennuyé 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 #291,247 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