Which to use
“écart” and “écarts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,232
- “écart” frequency rank
- #9,418
- “écarts” frequency rank
- 12650
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écart | écarts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action par laquelle deux parties d’une chose s’écartent plus ou moins l’une de l’autre. | Pluriel de écart. |
Same sound, different letters: écart vs écarts
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. écart runs 5 letters (VCVCC) against écarts's 6 (VCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: écart vs écarts
This is the hard kind. écart and écarts are pronounced identically (\e.kaʁ\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “écart” sits inside “écarts”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12650, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écart is recorded at frequency rank #3,232, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.kaʁ\. écarts is at rank #9,418, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.kaʁ\.
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 12650, this pair ranks #404,386 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of écart vs écarts
Shared letters: acrté. Private to "écart": -. Private to "écarts": s.
"écart" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "écarts" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "écart" for "écarts" ever safe?
Which is more common, "écart" or "écarts"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "écart" / "écarts". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "écart" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écarts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #404,386 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écart" and "écarts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écarts vs épars". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #404,386 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.