Which to use
“envies” is a noun and “évites” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,652
- “envies” frequency rank
- #31,315
- “évites” frequency rank
- 40967
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | envies | évites |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de envie. | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de éviter. |
Where the eye mixes envies and évites
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. envies (VCCVVC) and évites (VCVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: envies vs évites
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: envies is \ɑ̃.vi\ while évites is \e.vit\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
envies is recorded at frequency rank #9,652, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.vi\. évites is at rank #31,315, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.vit\.
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 40967, this pair ranks #236,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of envies vs évites
Shared letters: eisv. Private to "envies": n. Private to "évites": té.
"envies" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC · "évites" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- envies ← enives · ennvies · enveis · enviess · envise · envvies · evnies · nevies
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "envies" and "évites" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "envies" or "évites" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "envies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "évites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #236,590 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "envies" and "évites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "édits vs évites". 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 #236,590 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.