envoyavsenvoyaisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,610
“envoya” frequency rank
#43,417
“envoyais” frequency rank
60027
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature envoya envoyais
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de envoyer. Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de envoyer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set envoya and envoyais apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
envoya
8 ch
envoyais

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. envoya (\ɑ̃.vwa.ja\) and envoyais (\ɑ̃.vwa.jɛ\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “envoya” sits inside “envoyais”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60027, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

envoya is recorded at frequency rank #16,610, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.vwa.ja\. envoyais is at rank #43,417, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.vwa.jɛ\.

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 60027, this pair ranks #99,861 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of envoya vs envoyais

Shared letters: aenovy. Private to "envoya": -. Private to "envoyais": is.

"envoya" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV  ·  "envoyais" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • envoyaennvoya · enovya · envoay · envoyya · envvoya · envyoa · evnoya · nevoya
  • envoyaisennvoyais · enovyais · envoayis · envoyaiss · envoyasi · envoyias · envoyyais · envvoyais

Frequency comparison

envoya#16,610
envoyais#43,417

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "envoya" and "envoyais" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.vwa.ja\ versus \ɑ̃.vwa.jɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "envoya" or "envoyais"?
"envoya" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,610 in our French list, against #43,417 for "envoyais". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering envoya vs envoyais

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “envoya” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list