épilervséviterConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#32,250
“épiler” frequency rank
#862
“éviter” frequency rank
33112
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature épiler éviter
Definition Dégarnir des poils, des cheveux. Échapper, se soustraire à quelque chose de nuisible, de désagréable.

Where the eye mixes épiler and éviter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
épiler
6 ch
éviter

Why the eye confuses épiler with éviter

A purely visual mix-up. épiler (\e.pi.le\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33112, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

épiler is recorded at frequency rank #32,250, classified as averb, pronounced \e.pi.le\. 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 33112, this pair ranks #292,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of épiler vs éviter

Shared letters: eiré. Private to "épiler": lp. Private to "éviter": tv.

"épiler" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "éviter" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "épiler" and "éviter" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.pi.le\ versus \e.vi.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "épiler" or "éviter"?
"éviter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #862 in our French list, against #32,250 for "épiler". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "épiler" and "éviter" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "épiler" 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 #292,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "épiler" and "éviter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épier vs épiler". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #292,776 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