Which to use
“ébranler” is a verb and “étranger” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #33,084
- “ébranler” frequency rank
- #1,174
- “étranger” frequency rank
- 34258
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ébranler | étranger |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Amener par des secousses une chose à ne plus être dans sa position habituelle. | Relatif à ce qui vient de l’extérieur. |
Where the eye mixes ébranler and étranger
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. ébranler and étranger follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between ébranler and étranger
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ébranler is \e.bʁɑ̃.le\ while étranger is \e.tʁɑ̃.ʒe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34258, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ébranler is recorded at frequency rank #33,084, classified as averb, pronounced \e.bʁɑ̃.le\. étranger is at rank #1,174, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.tʁɑ̃.ʒe\.
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 34258, this pair ranks #285,075 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ébranler vs étranger
Shared letters: aenré. Private to "ébranler": bl. Private to "étranger": gt.
"ébranler" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "étranger" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ébranler" for "étranger" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "ébranler" or "étranger" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "ébranler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étranger" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #285,075 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ébranler" and "étranger" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ébranle vs ébranler". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #285,075 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.