Which to use
“ébène” and “épée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,435
- “ébène” frequency rank
- #4,724
- “épée” frequency rank
- 35159
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ébène | épée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom habituellement donné au bois de divers arbres de la famille des Ebenaceae (Ébénacées) du genre Diospyros nommés ébénier et certains plaqueminiers au bois sombre. On trouve aussi un arbre de la famille des Fabaceae (Fabacées) le Dalbergia melanoxylon ou ébène du Mozambique. Ce sont des bois gris foncé, sombres, noirs, parfois veinés , d’un grain fin et d’une grande dureté, aujourd'hui principalement utilisés dans la fabrication d'objets décoratifs ou usuels de petite dimension. | Arme offensive et défensive composée d’une longue lame affilée de section triangulaire avec une poignée et que les guerriers portaient au côté dans un fourreau. |
Where the eye mixes ébène and épée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ébène and épée
A purely visual mix-up. ébène (\e.bɛn\) and épée (\e.pe\) 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 35159, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ébène is recorded at frequency rank #30,435, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.bɛn\. épée is at rank #4,724, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.pe\.
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 35159, this pair ranks #278,727 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ébène vs épée
Shared letters: eé. Private to "ébène": bnè. Private to "épée": p.
"ébène" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "épée" · 4 letters · shape VCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ébène" and "épée" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "ébène" vs "épée" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ébène" and "épée" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ébène" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "épée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #278,727 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ébène" and "épée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ébène vs éden". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #278,727 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.