écrisvséprisTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#3,886
“écris” frequency rank
#24,088
“épris” frequency rank
27974
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature écris épris
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de écrire. Qui est saisi par un vif sentiment de relation affective, une passion pour quelqu'un ou quelque chose.

Where the eye mixes écris and épris

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
écris
5 ch
épris

Visual trap between écris and épris

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écris is \e.kʁi\ while épris is \e.pʁi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “écris” becomes p in “épris”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27974, 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\. épris is at rank #24,088, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.pʁi\.

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 27974, this pair ranks #325,659 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of écris vs épris

Shared letters: irsé. Private to "écris": c. Private to "épris": p.

"écris" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "épris" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "écris" and "épris" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "écris" is a verb and "épris" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "écris" vs "épris" - which ranks higher?
"écris" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,886 in our French list, against #24,088 for "épris". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "écris" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "épris" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #325,659 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "écris" and "épris" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épris vs éprise". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #325,659 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