Which to use
“écart” is a noun and “écrit” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,232
- “écart” frequency rank
- #500
- “écrit” frequency rank
- 3732
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écart | écrit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action par laquelle deux parties d’une chose s’écartent plus ou moins l’une de l’autre. | Recouvert de signes graphiques, se dit spécialement d’un papier, d’un parchemin, etc., sur lequel on a écrit ; antonymes : blanc, vierge. |
Where the eye mixes écart and écrit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses écart with écrit
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écart is \e.kaʁ\ while écrit is \e.kʁi\. 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 (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3732, 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\. écrit is at rank #500, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.kʁi\.
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 3732, this pair ranks #433,319 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of écart vs écrit
Shared letters: crté. Private to "écart": a. Private to "écrit": i.
"écart" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC · "écrit" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "écart" and "écrit" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "écart" or "écrit" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "écart" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écrit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #433,319 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écart" and "écrit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écrit vs émit". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #433,319 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.