ébatsvséclatsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#32,642
“ébats” frequency rank
#11,154
“éclats” frequency rank
43796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ébats éclats
Definition Pluriel de ébat. Pluriel de éclat.

Where the eye mixes ébats and éclats

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ébats runs 5 letters (VCVCC) against éclats's 6 (VCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
ébats
6 ch
éclats

Look-alike desk: ébats vs éclats

A purely visual mix-up. ébats (\e.ba\) and éclats (\e.kla\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ébats is recorded at frequency rank #32,642, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ba\. éclats is at rank #11,154, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.kla\.

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 43796, this pair ranks #215,337 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ébats vs éclats

Shared letters: asté. Private to "ébats": b. Private to "éclats": cl.

"ébats" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC  ·  "éclats" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ébats" and "éclats" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.ba\ versus \e.kla\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "ébats" vs "éclats" - which ranks higher?
"éclats" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,154 in our French list, against #32,642 for "ébats". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "ébats" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "éclats" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #215,337 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ébats" and "éclats" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ébats vs édits". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #215,337 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list