Which to use
“ébats” and “étais” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,642
- “ébats” frequency rank
- #358
- “étais” frequency rank
- 33000
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ébats | étais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de ébat. | Pluriel de étai. |
Where the eye mixes ébats and étais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ébats (VCVCC) and étais (VCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: ébats vs étais
A purely visual mix-up. ébats (\e.ba\) and étais (\e.tɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33000, 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\. étais is at rank #358, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.tɛ\.
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 33000, this pair ranks #293,540 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ébats vs étais
Shared letters: asté. Private to "ébats": b. Private to "étais": i.
"ébats" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "étais" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ébats" for "étais" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ébats" vs "étais" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ébats" and "étais" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ébats" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #293,540 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ébats" and "étais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ébats vs édits". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #293,540 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.