Which to use
“écarter” and “escorter” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,101
- “écarter” frequency rank
- #32,809
- “escorter” frequency rank
- 41910
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écarter | escorter |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Séparer ; éloigner. | Accompagner pour protéger, défendre, surveiller ou honorer pendant la marche. |
Where the eye mixes écarter and escorter
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between écarter and escorter
A purely visual mix-up. écarter (\e.kaʁ.te\) and escorter (\ɛs.kɔʁ.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41910, 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\. escorter is at rank #32,809, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛs.kɔʁ.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 41910, this pair ranks #229,646 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écarter vs escorter
Shared letters: cert. Private to "écarter": aé. Private to "escorter": os.
"écarter" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC · "escorter" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- escorter ← ecsorter · esccorter · escoretr · escorrter · escorterr · escortre · escortter · escotrer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "écarter" for "escorter" ever safe?
Frequency check: "écarter" vs "escorter" - 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 "escorter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #229,646 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écarter" and "escorter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "escorter vs escortes". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #229,646 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.