Which to use
“éclipses” and “ellipses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #36,668
- “éclipses” frequency rank
- #41,763
- “ellipses” frequency rank
- 78431
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | éclipses | ellipses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de éclipse. | Pluriel de ellipse. |
Where the eye mixes éclipses and ellipses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses éclipses with ellipses
A purely visual mix-up. éclipses (\e.klips\) and ellipses (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 78431, 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\. ellipses is at rank #41,763, 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 78431, this pair ranks #25,784 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of éclipses vs ellipses
Shared letters: eilps. Private to "éclipses": cé. Private to "ellipses": -.
"éclipses" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC · "ellipses" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ellipses ← elilpses · elipses · ellipess · ellippses · ellipsess · ellipsses · ellispes · ellpises
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "éclipses" and "ellipses" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "éclipses" vs "ellipses" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "éclipses" and "ellipses" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "éclipses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ellipses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #25,784 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "éclipses" and "ellipses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ellipse 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 #25,784 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.