Which to use
“écrit” is an adjective and “écrivit” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #500
- “écrit” frequency rank
- #14,390
- “écrivit” frequency rank
- 14890
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écrit | écrivit |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Recouvert de signes graphiques, se dit spécialement d’un papier, d’un parchemin, etc., sur lequel on a écrit ; antonymes : blanc, vierge. | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de écrire. |
Where the eye mixes écrit and écrivit
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. écrit runs 5 letters (VCCVC) against écrivit's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between écrit and écrivit
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écrit is \e.kʁi\ while écrivit is \e.kʁi.vi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14890, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écrit is recorded at frequency rank #500, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.kʁi\. écrivit is at rank #14,390, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.kʁi.vi\.
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 14890, this pair ranks #394,763 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of écrit vs écrivit
Shared letters: cirté. Private to "écrit": -. Private to "écrivit": v.
"écrit" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "écrivit" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "écrit" and "écrivit" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "écrit" or "écrivit" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "écrit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écrivit" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #394,763 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écrit" and "écrivit" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écrit vs émit". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #394,763 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.