enversvsenvoisWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: envers is a preposition, envois is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“envers” is a preposition and “envois” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,259
“envers” frequency rank
#13,588
“envois” frequency rank
14847
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature envers envois
Definition À l’égard de. Pluriel de envoi.

Where the eye mixes envers and envois

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. envers (VCCVCC) and envois (VCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
envers
6 ch
envois

Visual trap between envers and envois

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: envers is \ɑ̃.vɛʁ\ while envois is \ɑ̃.vwa\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (preposition vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

envers is recorded at frequency rank #1,259, classified as aprep, pronounced \ɑ̃.vɛʁ\. envois is at rank #13,588, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.vwa\.

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 14847, this pair ranks #394,959 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of envers vs envois

Shared letters: ensv. Private to "envers": r. Private to "envois": io.

"envers" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "envois" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enversenevrs · ennvers · enverrs · enverss · envesr · envres · envvers · evners
  • envoisennvois · enovis · envios · envoiss · envosi · envvois · evnois · nevois

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "envers" and "envois" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "envers" is a preposition and "envois" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "envers" vs "envois" - which ranks higher?
"envers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,259 in our French list, against #13,588 for "envois". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "envers" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "envois" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #394,959 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "envers" and "envois" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "envois vs envoyais". 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 #394,959 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