essayervsessayeraWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#963
“essayer” frequency rank
#41,279
“essayera” frequency rank
42242
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature essayer essayera
Definition Mettre à l’essai ; vérifier le bon fonctionnement. Troisième personne du singulier du futur de essayer.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set essayer and essayera apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
essayer
8 ch
essayera

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. essayer (\e.se.je\) and essayera (\e.sɛ.jə.ʁa\) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “essayer” sits inside “essayera”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42242, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

essayer is recorded at frequency rank #963, classified as averb, pronounced \e.se.je\. essayera is at rank #41,279, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.sɛ.jə.ʁa\.

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 42242, this pair ranks #227,108 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of essayer vs essayera

Shared letters: aersy. Private to "essayer": -. Private to "essayera": -.

"essayer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC  ·  "essayera" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • essayeresasyer · esayer · essaeyr · essayerr · essayre · essayyer · essyaer · sesayer
  • essayeraesasyera · esayera · essaeyra · essayear · essayerra · essayrea · essayyera · essyaera

Frequency comparison

essayer#963
essayera#41,279

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "essayer" and "essayera" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.se.je\ versus \e.sɛ.jə.ʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "essayer" or "essayera"?
"essayer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #963 in our French list, against #41,279 for "essayera". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering essayer vs essayera

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 “essayer” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list