Which to use
“envier” and “éviter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,195
- “envier” frequency rank
- #862
- “éviter” frequency rank
- 19057
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | envier | éviter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Désirer pour soi les avantages d’autrui. | Échapper, se soustraire à quelque chose de nuisible, de désagréable. |
Where the eye mixes envier and éviter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses envier with éviter
A purely visual mix-up. envier (\ɑ̃.vje\) and éviter (\e.vi.te\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19057, 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\. éviter is at rank #862, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.vi.te\.
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 19057, this pair ranks #375,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of envier vs éviter
Shared letters: eirv. Private to "envier": n. Private to "éviter": té.
"envier" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC · "éviter" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- envier ← eniver · ennvier · enveir · envierr · envire · envvier · evnier · nevier
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "envier" and "éviter" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "envier" or "éviter" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "envier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "éviter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #375,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "envier" and "éviter" 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 #375,263 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.