Which to use
“éclipses” and “ellipse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,668
- “éclipses” frequency rank
- #29,757
- “ellipse” frequency rank
- 66425
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | éclipses | ellipse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de éclipse. | Suppression d’un élément de phrase sans changement de signification. |
Where the eye mixes éclipses and ellipse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. éclipses runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against ellipse's 7 (VCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: éclipses vs ellipse
A purely visual mix-up. éclipses (\e.klips\) and ellipse (\e.lips\) 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 66425, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
éclipses is recorded at frequency rank #36,668, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.klips\. ellipse is at rank #29,757, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.lips\.
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 66425, this pair ranks #67,891 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of éclipses vs ellipse
Shared letters: eilps. Private to "éclipses": cé. Private to "ellipse": -.
"éclipses" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "ellipse" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- ellipse ← elilpse · elipse · ellipes · ellippse · ellipsse · ellispe · ellpise · lelipse
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "éclipses" for "ellipse" ever safe?
Frequency check: "éclipses" vs "ellipse" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "éclipses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ellipse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #67,891 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "éclipses" and "ellipse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éclipses vs ellipses". 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 #67,891 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.