Which to use
“ébène” and “épine” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #30,435
- “ébène” frequency rank
- #20,328
- “épine” frequency rank
- 50763
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ébène | épine |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Branche, feuille, stipule ou partie de feuille transformée en un organe allongé et piquant ; par opposition à l’aiguillon. |
Where the eye mixes ébène and épine
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. ébène and épine follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between ébène and épine
A purely visual mix-up. ébène (\e.bɛn\) and épine (\e.pin\) 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 50763, 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\. épine is at rank #20,328, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.pin\.
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 50763, this pair ranks #160,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ébène vs épine
Shared letters: ené. Private to "ébène": bè. Private to "épine": ip.
"ébène" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "épine" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ébène" for "épine" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ébène" vs "épine" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ébène" and "épine" 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 "épine" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #160,176 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ébène" and "épine" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épier vs épine". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #160,176 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.