enviervsenvolerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,195
“envier” frequency rank
#14,033
“envoler” frequency rank
32228
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature envier envoler
Definition Désirer pour soi les avantages d’autrui. (Utilisé uniquement dans s’envoler) Voler ailleurs.

Where the eye mixes envier and envoler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
envier
7 ch
envoler

Visual trap between envier and envoler

A purely visual mix-up. envier (\ɑ̃.vje\) and envoler (\ɑ̃.vɔ.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32228, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

envier is recorded at frequency rank #18,195, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.vje\. envoler is at rank #14,033, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.vɔ.le\.

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 32228, this pair ranks #298,657 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of envier vs envoler

Shared letters: enrv. Private to "envier": i. Private to "envoler": lo.

"envier" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC  ·  "envoler" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enviereniver · ennvier · enveir · envierr · envire · envvier · evnier · nevier
  • envolerennvoler · enovler · envloer · envoelr · envolerr · envoller · envolre · envvoler

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "envier" for "envoler" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.vje\ versus \ɑ̃.vɔ.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "envier" or "envoler"?
"envoler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,033 in our French list, against #18,195 for "envier". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "envier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "envoler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #298,657 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "envier" and "envoler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "envier vs épier". 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 #298,657 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