Which to use
“yon” and “young” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #22,739
- “yon” frequency rank
- #6,914
- “young” frequency rank
- 29653
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | yon | young |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce … là-bas, cette … là-bas. | Jeune. |
Where the eye mixes yon and young
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: yon vs young
A purely visual mix-up. yon (\ˈjɑn\) and young (\ˈjʌŋ\) 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 29653, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
yon is recorded at frequency rank #22,739, classified as anadj, pronounced \ˈjɑn\. young is at rank #6,914, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ˈjʌŋ\.
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 29653, this pair ranks #315,330 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of yon vs young
Shared letters: noy. Private to "yon": -. Private to "young": gu.
"yon" · 3 letters · shape VVC · "young" · 5 letters · shape VVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- young ← oyung · yonug · yougn · youngg · younng · yuong · yyoung
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "yon" for "young" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "yon" or "young" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "yon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "young" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #315,330 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "yon" and "young" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "yon vs yum". 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 #315,330 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.