Which to use
“ennuyer” and “envoyer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,374
- “ennuyer” frequency rank
- #1,162
- “envoyer” frequency rank
- 14536
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ennuyer | envoyer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Causer de l’ennui, fatiguer l’esprit par quelque chose d’insignifiant, de monotone, de déplaisant, ou de trop long. | Faire partir quelqu’un ou faire porter quelque chose quelque part. |
Where the eye mixes ennuyer and envoyer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. ennuyer and envoyer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses ennuyer with envoyer
A purely visual mix-up. ennuyer (\ɑ̃.nɥi.je\) and envoyer (\ɑ̃.vwa.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 14536, 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\. envoyer is at rank #1,162, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.vwa.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 14536, this pair ranks #396,241 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ennuyer vs envoyer
Shared letters: enry. Private to "ennuyer": u. Private to "envoyer": ov.
"ennuyer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC · "envoyer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ennuyer" for "envoyer" ever safe?
Which is more common, "ennuyer" or "envoyer"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ennuyer" and "envoyer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ennuyer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "envoyer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,241 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ennuyer" and "envoyer" 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 #396,241 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.