Which to use
“écarté” is a noun and “épaté” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,691
- “écarté” frequency rank
- #42,132
- “épaté” frequency rank
- 53823
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écarté | épaté |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Jeu de cartes qui se joue à deux et où l’on peut écarter tout ou partie des cartes. | Qui est aplati, écrasé. |
Where the eye mixes écarté and épaté
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. écarté runs 6 letters (VCVCCV) against épaté's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses écarté with épaté
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écarté is \e.kaʁ.te\ while épaté is \e.pa.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53823, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écarté is recorded at frequency rank #11,691, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.kaʁ.te\. épaté is at rank #42,132, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.pa.te\.
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 53823, this pair ranks #138,132 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écarté vs épaté
Shared letters: até. Private to "écarté": cr. Private to "épaté": p.
"écarté" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV · "épaté" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "écarté" and "épaté" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "écarté" or "épaté"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "écarté" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "épaté" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #138,132 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écarté" and "épaté" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épaté vs épater". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #138,132 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.