Which to use
“envie” is a noun and “envient” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #527
- “envie” frequency rank
- #47,876
- “envient” frequency rank
- 48403
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | envie | envient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Chagrin ou haine que l’on ressent du bonheur, des succès, des avantages d’autrui. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de envier. |
Same sound, different letters: envie vs envient
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Homophone desk: envie vs envient
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: envie and envient carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.vi\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “envie” sits inside “envient”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48403, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
envie is recorded at frequency rank #527, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.vi\. envient is at rank #47,876, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.vi\.
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 48403, this pair ranks #179,220 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of envie vs envient
Shared letters: einv. Private to "envie": -. Private to "envient": t.
"envie" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV · "envient" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "envie" and "envient" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "envie" vs "envient" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "envie" / "envient". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "envie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "envient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #179,220 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "envie" and "envient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enfuient vs envient". 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 #179,220 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.