envoléesvsenvolentTell them apart

Quick tell: envolées is a noun, envolent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“envolées” is a noun and “envolent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,375
“envolées” frequency rank
#28,158
“envolent” frequency rank
64533
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature envolées envolent
Definition Pluriel de envolée. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de envoler.

Where the eye mixes envolées and envolent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. envolées (VCCVCVVC) and envolent (VCCVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
envolées
8 ch
envolent

Why the eye confuses envolées with envolent

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: envolées is \ɑ̃.vɔ.le\ while envolent is \ɑ̃.vɔl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 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 64533, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

envolées is recorded at frequency rank #36,375, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.vɔ.le\. envolent is at rank #28,158, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.vɔl\.

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 64533, this pair ranks #76,597 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of envolées vs envolent

Shared letters: elnov. Private to "envolées": sé. Private to "envolent": t.

"envolées" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC  ·  "envolent" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • envolent ← ennvolent · enovlent · envloent · envoelnt · envolennt · envolentt · envoletn · envollent

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "envolées" and "envolent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "envolées" is a noun and "envolent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "envolées" or "envolent"?
"envolent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,158 in our French list, against #36,375 for "envolées". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "envolées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "envolent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #76,597 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "envolées" and "envolent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "envolées vs évoluées". 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 #76,597 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