Which to use
“eau” and “émaux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #287
- “eau” frequency rank
- #44,274
- “émaux” frequency rank
- 44561
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | eau | émaux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Liquide transparent, incolore, inodore et insipide à l’état pur, qui est le principal constituant des lacs, rivières, mers et océans. | Pluriel de émail. |
Where the eye mixes eau and émaux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. eau runs 3 letters (VVV) against émaux's 5 (VCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between eau and émaux
A purely visual mix-up. eau (\o\) and émaux (\e.mo\) 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 44561, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
eau is recorded at frequency rank #287, classified as anoun, pronounced \o\. émaux is at rank #44,274, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.mo\.
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 44561, this pair ranks #209,559 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of eau vs émaux
Shared letters: au. Private to "eau": e. Private to "émaux": mxé.
"eau" · 3 letters · shape VVV · "émaux" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "eau" and "émaux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "eau" or "émaux"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "eau" and "émaux" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "eau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "émaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #209,559 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "eau" and "émaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "émaux vs emo". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #209,559 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.