éclairciesvséclairéesTell them apart

Which to use

“éclaircies” and “éclairées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#39,112
“éclaircies” frequency rank
#31,303
“éclairées” frequency rank
70415
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature éclaircies éclairées
Definition Féminin pluriel de éclairci. Féminin pluriel de éclairé.

Where the eye mixes éclaircies and éclairées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. éclaircies runs 10 letters (VCCVVCCVVC) against éclairées's 9 (VCCVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
éclaircies
9 ch
éclairées

Visual trap between éclaircies and éclairées

A purely visual mix-up. éclaircies (\e.klɛʁ.si\) and éclairées (\e.klɛ.ʁe\) 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 70415, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

éclaircies is recorded at frequency rank #39,112, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.klɛʁ.si\. éclairées is at rank #31,303, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.klɛ.ʁe\.

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 70415, this pair ranks #51,398 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of éclaircies vs éclairées

Shared letters: aceilrsé. Private to "éclaircies": -. Private to "éclairées": -.

"éclaircies" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVCCVVC  ·  "éclairées" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "éclaircies" and "éclairées" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.klɛʁ.si\ versus \e.klɛ.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "éclaircies" or "éclairées" show up more?
"éclairées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,303 in our French list, against #39,112 for "éclaircies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "éclaircies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "éclairées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #51,398 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "éclaircies" and "éclairées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éclairci vs éclaircies". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #51,398 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list