écrisvsépisWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: écris is a verb, épis is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“écris” is a verb and “épis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#3,886
“écris” frequency rank
#26,234
“épis” frequency rank
30120
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature écris épis
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de écrire. Pluriel de épi.

Where the eye mixes écris and épis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
écris
4 ch
épis

Visual trap between écris and épis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écris is \e.kʁi\ while épis is \e.pi\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30120, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

écris is recorded at frequency rank #3,886, classified as averb, pronounced \e.kʁi\. épis is at rank #26,234, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.pi\.

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 30120, this pair ranks #312,378 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of écris vs épis

Shared letters: isé. Private to "écris": cr. Private to "épis": p.

"écris" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "épis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "écris" and "épis" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "écris" is a verb and "épis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "écris" or "épis" show up more?
"écris" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,886 in our French list, against #26,234 for "épis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "écris" and "épis" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "écris" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "épis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #312,378 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "écris" and "épis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épier vs épis". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #312,378 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