Which to use
“écarter” is a verb and “écarts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,101
- “écarter” frequency rank
- #9,418
- “écarts” frequency rank
- 18519
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écarter | écarts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Séparer ; éloigner. | Pluriel de écart. |
Where the eye mixes écarter and écarts
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. écarter runs 7 letters (VCVCCVC) against écarts's 6 (VCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: écarter vs écarts
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écarter is \e.kaʁ.te\ while écarts is \e.kaʁ\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18519, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écarter is recorded at frequency rank #9,101, classified as averb, pronounced \e.kaʁ.te\. 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 18519, this pair ranks #377,895 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of écarter vs écarts
Shared letters: acrté. Private to "écarter": e. Private to "écarts": s.
"écarter" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC · "écarts" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "écarter" and "écarts" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "écarter" vs "écarts" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "écarter" 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 #377,895 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écarter" and "écarts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Easter vs écarter". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #377,895 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.