Which to use
“écartée” is a verb and “éclatée” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,210
- “écartée” frequency rank
- #31,304
- “éclatée” frequency rank
- 52514
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écartée | éclatée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé féminin singulier de écarter. | Féminin singulier de éclaté. |
Where the eye mixes écartée and éclatée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. écartée (VCVCCVV) and éclatée (VCCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses écartée with éclatée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écartée is \e.kaʁ.te\ while éclatée is \e.kla.te\. 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 52514, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écartée is recorded at frequency rank #21,210, classified as averb, pronounced \e.kaʁ.te\. éclatée is at rank #31,304, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.kla.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 52514, this pair ranks #147,192 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écartée vs éclatée
Shared letters: aceté. Private to "écartée": r. Private to "éclatée": l.
"écartée" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVV · "éclatée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "écartée" for "éclatée" ever safe?
Frequency check: "écartée" vs "éclatée" - which ranks higher?
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 "écartée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "éclatée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #147,192 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écartée" and "éclatée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éclata vs éclatée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #147,192 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.