étai
\e.tɛ\
The verdict
“étai” has 5 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #48,289. The variants make it a useful spelling check.
- #48,289
- frequency rank, French
- 40,273
- “É” headwords
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Pièce de bois ou de fer utilisée pour soutenir une construction qui menace de s’écrouler, ou qui est en travaux.
Corpus desk
Index FR-etai · étai · French
étai · rank #48,289 · 5 variants · 20 confusables
- FREQ-MID #48,289
- LEN-MID 4 letters
- VOW-3 3 vowels
- CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
- VAR-MID 5 variants
- BOOK-DENSE 40,273
- PHOTO-FINISH étayée
Nearest frequency peer: étayée (+1 rank slots)
Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.
Frequency neighbourhood for “étai”
Lower corpus rank = more everyday usage (inverted bar length for readability)
- épopées
épopées
51,717 corpus weight
- éprise
éprise
51,716 corpus weight
- éradiqué
éradiqué
51,715 corpus weight
- ésotériques
ésotériques
51,714 corpus weight
- étai
étai
51,712 corpus weight
- étayée
étayée
51,711 corpus weight
What this shows Bars show where “étai” sits against the nearest ranked French headwords in the FrequencyWords band, not a reprint of letter-browse containment.
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | étai |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \e.tɛ\ |
| Letters | 4 |
| Frequency rank | #48,289 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “étai” sits in French frequency
A misspelling magnet
The generator records 5 spelling variants around étai (IPA \e.tɛ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #48,289 among 40,273 “É” headwords. Wiktionary lists 3 senses, so context still picks the gloss.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for étai, with forms such as "etai", "téai", and "éati". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "été", "etc", "eva", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.
This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is étai, spelled É-T-A-I.
Definition
- 1Pièce de bois ou de fer utilisée pour soutenir une construction qui menace de s’écrouler, ou qui est en travaux.
- 2Cordage de navire destiné à consolider les mâts contre les efforts de l’avant vers l’arrière.
- 3Pièce héraldique désignant un chevron étroit et fin, en ce sens synonyme de « chevronnel », notamment quand ce chevronnel “supporte” un meuble héraldique,. Ce mot est, en héraldique seulement, parfois au féminin : « une étaie ». Voir la section « Chevronnel / étai » de l'article consacré par Wikipédia au chevron en héraldique, ainsi que la section « Étai » de l'article Liste de pièces héraldiques.
Recorded use
Wiktionary examplesThese source excerpts show how étai appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.
Souvent on entend parler d’un accident, —un étai a manqué, une corde s’est rompue, un homme a été écrasé.— À la surface de la terre on croit que c’est un malheur ; trente pieds au-dessous on sait que c’est un crime.
« Pauvre et chère femme ! me disais-je en m’en allant. Chère conscience où j’ai fait entrer des terreurs ! » Et, par un de ces retours qui déshonorent en un moment les meilleurs élans, je pensai à ces statues accoudées sur un étai qui les met d’aplomb et qui tomberaient sans ce point d’appui.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as:
- etai
- téai
- éati
- étia
- éttai
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of étai - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
PlainSpell is rendered directly from structured Wiktionary extracts and open word-frequency lists, no number is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of May 6, 2026. Primary sources: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) and FrequencyWords.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "étai"?
What does "étai" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "étai"?
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Similar French words by spelling shape
Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "étai", not the corpus desk frequency band.
Same letter count
Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).
Similar misspelling depth
Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (5 here; floor ≥5).
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.