etre

\e.ˈtreː\

/\e.ˈtreː\/ prep

The verdict

“etre” sits in 20 confusable pairs (corpus #1,412) as a preposition. The look-alike neighbours are the real trap.

#1,412
frequency rank, French
3,255
“E” headwords
3
tracked misspellings
20
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Entre.

Corpus desk

Index FR-etre · etre · French

etre · rank #1,412 · 3 variants · 20 confusables

  • FREQ-COMMON #1,412
  • LEN-MID 4 letters
  • VOW-2 2 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 20 pairs
  • VAR-LOW 3 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,255
  • PHOTO-FINISH envoyé

Nearest frequency peer: envoyé (-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.

Voisins de fréquence du confusable « etre »

Pairs de poids proche dans le corpus, séparés des confusables ci-dessous

corpus weight

What this shows Les barres placent « etre » face aux lemmes français les plus proches par rang, pas un reprint du bureau des confusables.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

etre vs eve
50% similar
etre vs eur
50% similar
etre vs eue
50% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for etre
PropertyValue
Headwordetre
LanguageFrench
Part of speechPreposition
IPA\e.ˈtreː\
Letters4
Frequency rank#1,412
Misspellings tracked3
Confusable pairs20
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Rang de corpus près des confusables de « etre »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).etrese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'échelle est logarithmique (chaque tic ≈ 10× plus rare). Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « envoyé » (#1,411), « festival » (#1,413), « entrer » (#1,410). Parmi 3,255 lemmes en « E », « etre » est au #1,412. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Easy to mix with look-alikes

The spelling risk for etre is neighbouring look-alikes ("eve", "eur", …), not just typos; it is apreposition pronounced \e.ˈtreː\. Frequency #1,412 among 3,255 “E” headwords. Gloss: "Entre.".

Our generated misspelling index lists 3 likely wrong-spelling variants for etre, with forms such as "erte", "eter", and "ettre". 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, "eve", "eur", "eue", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling pattern is best understood through pronunciation rather than a traceable origin. The correct French form is etre, spelled E-T-R-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Entre.

Recorded use

Wiktionary example

These source excerpts show how etre appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Etre an dimeziñ hag an eured (an embannou hag an dimeziñ) e vez an diaoul o redeg.

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • erte
  • eter
  • ettre

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of etre - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

erte2eter2ettre1
Edit distance from "etre"

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.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "etre"?
"etre" is spelled E-T-R-E. The IPA pronunciation is \e.ˈtreː\.
What does "etre" mean?
As a preposition, "etre" means: Entre.
What words are commonly confused with "etre"?
"etre" is commonly confused with "eve", "eur", "eue". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "etre"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "etre" is \e.ˈtreː\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "etre" come from?
"etre" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "etre", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 4 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list