nattevsnavetteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#49,818
“natte” frequency rank
#9,881
“navette” frequency rank
59699
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature natte navette
Definition Tissu de paille, de jonc, de roseau, etc., fait ordinairement de trois brins ou cordons entrelacés, et servant à couvrir les planchers, à revêtir les murs des chambres, etc. Instrument de tisserand, qui sert à porter et à faire courir le fil, la soie, la laine entre les fils de la chaîne du métier à tisser. Elle est mobile et généralement formée d’une pièce de bois allongée et pointue aux extrémités, et creusée d’une cavité garnie d’une broche où s’enfile la canette.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set natte and navette apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
natte
7 ch
navette

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. natte (\nat\) and navette (\na.vɛt\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

natte is recorded at frequency rank #49,818, classified as anoun, pronounced \nat\. navette is at rank #9,881, tagged as anoun, pronounced \na.vɛt\.

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 59699, this pair ranks #101,673 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of natte vs navette

Shared letters: aent. Private to "natte": -. Private to "navette": v.

"natte" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV  ·  "navette" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nattenatet · nnatte · ntate
  • navetteanvette · naevtte · navete · navetet · navtete · navvette · nnavette · nvaette

Frequency comparison

natte#49,818
navette#9,881

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "natte" and "navette" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\nat\ versus \na.vɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "natte" or "navette"?
"navette" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,881 in our French list, against #49,818 for "natte". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering natte vs navette

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 “natte” 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