écrirevsécriteConfusable pair

Quick tell: écrire is a verb, écrite is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“écrire” is a verb and “écrite” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,154
“écrire” frequency rank
#3,724
“écrite” frequency rank
4878
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature écrire écrite
Definition Créer une représentation de mots à l’aide de lettres et de symboles, par le biais d’un média. Féminin singulier de écrit.

Where the eye mixes écrire and écrite

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
écrire
6 ch
écrite

Why the eye confuses écrire with écrite

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écrire is \e.kʁiʁ\ while écrite is \e.kʁit\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “écrire” becomes t in “écrite”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4878, 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\. écrite is at rank #3,724, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.kʁit\.

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 4878, this pair ranks #430,453 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of écrire vs écrite

Shared letters: ceiré. Private to "écrire": -. Private to "écrite": t.

"écrire" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "écrite" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "écrire" and "écrite" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "écrire" is a verb and "écrite" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "écrire" vs "écrite" - which ranks higher?
"écrire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,154 in our French list, against #3,724 for "écrite". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "écrire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "écrite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #430,453 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "écrire" and "écrite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écrite vs éprise". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #430,453 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