Which to use
“écrire” is a verb and “écrit” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,154
- “écrire” frequency rank
- #500
- “écrit” frequency rank
- 1654
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écrire | écrit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Créer une représentation de mots à l’aide de lettres et de symboles, par le biais d’un média. | Recouvert de signes graphiques, se dit spécialement d’un papier, d’un parchemin, etc., sur lequel on a écrit ; antonymes : blanc, vierge. |
Where the eye mixes écrire and écrit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between écrire and écrit
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écrire is \e.kʁiʁ\ while écrit is \e.kʁi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1654, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écrire is recorded at frequency rank #1,154, classified as averb, pronounced \e.kʁiʁ\. écrit is at rank #500, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.kʁi\.
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 1654, this pair ranks #437,631 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of écrire vs écrit
Shared letters: ciré. Private to "écrire": e. Private to "écrit": t.
"écrire" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "écrit" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "écrire" for "écrit" ever safe?
Which is more common, "écrire" or "écrit"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "écrire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écrit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,631 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écrire" and "écrit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écrit vs émit". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #437,631 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.