éclatantevséclatantesConfusable pair

Quick tell: éclatante is a noun, éclatantes is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“éclatante” is a noun and “éclatantes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#22,462
“éclatante” frequency rank
#43,221
“éclatantes” frequency rank
65683
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature éclatante éclatantes
Definition Fusée qui produit un éclat lumineux intense. Féminin pluriel de éclatant.

Same sound, different letters: éclatante vs éclatantes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. éclatante runs 9 letters (VCCVCVCCV) against éclatantes's 10 (VCCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
éclatante
10 ch
éclatantes

Same sound, different spelling - éclatante / éclatantes

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: éclatante and éclatantes carry the same recorded pronunciation, \e.kla.tɑ̃t\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “éclatante” sits inside “éclatantes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65683, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

éclatante is recorded at frequency rank #22,462, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.kla.tɑ̃t\. éclatantes is at rank #43,221, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.kla.tɑ̃t\.

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 65683, this pair ranks #71,220 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of éclatante vs éclatantes

Shared letters: acelnté. Private to "éclatante": -. Private to "éclatantes": s.

"éclatante" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV  ·  "éclatantes" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "éclatante" for "éclatantes" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "éclatante" is a noun and "éclatantes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "éclatante" or "éclatantes" show up more?
"éclatante" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,462 in our French list, against #43,221 for "éclatantes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"éclatante" and "éclatantes" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "éclatante" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "éclatantes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #71,220 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "éclatante" and "éclatantes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éclatant vs éclatantes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #71,220 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