Which to use
“ennuyer” and “enrayer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,374
- “ennuyer” frequency rank
- #22,845
- “enrayer” frequency rank
- 36219
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ennuyer | enrayer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Causer de l’ennui, fatiguer l’esprit par quelque chose d’insignifiant, de monotone, de déplaisant, ou de trop long. | Arrêter une roue par les rais, ou au moyen d’un sabot, d’un frein ou d’une chaîne, en sorte qu’elle ne tourne point et qu’elle ne fasse que glisser. |
Where the eye mixes ennuyer and enrayer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. ennuyer and enrayer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between ennuyer and enrayer
A purely visual mix-up. ennuyer (\ɑ̃.nɥi.je\) and enrayer (\ɑ̃.ʁɛ.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 36219, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ennuyer is recorded at frequency rank #13,374, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.nɥi.je\. enrayer is at rank #22,845, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.ʁɛ.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 36219, this pair ranks #271,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ennuyer vs enrayer
Shared letters: enry. Private to "ennuyer": u. Private to "enrayer": a.
"ennuyer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC · "enrayer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ennuyer" and "enrayer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ennuyer" vs "enrayer" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ennuyer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "enrayer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #271,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ennuyer" and "enrayer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ennuyer vs entuber". 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 #271,148 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.