éclatavséclateWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#32,645
“éclata” frequency rank
#7,390
“éclate” frequency rank
40035
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature éclata éclate
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de éclater. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de éclater.

Where the eye mixes éclata and éclate

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. éclata and éclate follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
éclata
6 ch
éclate

Visual trap between éclata and éclate

A purely visual mix-up. éclata (\e.kla.ta\) and éclate (\e.klat\) 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 a single letter - a in “éclata” becomes e in “éclate”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40035, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

éclata is recorded at frequency rank #32,645, classified as averb, pronounced \e.kla.ta\. éclate is at rank #7,390, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.klat\.

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 40035, this pair ranks #243,524 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of éclata vs éclate

Shared letters: aclté. Private to "éclata": -. Private to "éclate": e.

"éclata" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "éclate" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "éclata" and "éclate" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.kla.ta\ versus \e.klat\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "éclata" or "éclate"?
"éclate" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,390 in our French list, against #32,645 for "éclata". 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 "éclata" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "éclate" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #243,524 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "éclata" and "éclate" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éclata vs éclatée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #243,524 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