Which to use
“éclater” and “écraser” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,772
- “éclater” frequency rank
- #7,921
- “écraser” frequency rank
- 15693
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | éclater | écraser |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Exploser; se rompre, se briser en projetant des fragments. | Aplatir, briser quelque chose par un grand poids, par une forte compression, par un coup violent. |
Where the eye mixes éclater and écraser
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. éclater and écraser follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: éclater vs écraser
A purely visual mix-up. éclater (\e.kla.te\) and écraser (\e.kʁa.ze\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15693, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
éclater is recorded at frequency rank #7,772, classified as averb, pronounced \e.kla.te\. écraser is at rank #7,921, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.kʁa.ze\.
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 15693, this pair ranks #391,235 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of éclater vs écraser
Shared letters: aceré. Private to "éclater": lt. Private to "écraser": s.
"éclater" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "écraser" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "éclater" and "écraser" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "éclater" or "écraser"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "éclater" and "écraser" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "éclater" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écraser" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #391,235 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "éclater" and "écraser" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écrasées vs écraser". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #391,235 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.