Which to use
“écus” and “épis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,086
- “écus” frequency rank
- #26,234
- “épis” frequency rank
- 59320
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écus | épis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de écu. | Pluriel de épi. |
Where the eye mixes écus and épis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. écus and épis follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between écus and épis
A purely visual mix-up. écus (\e.ky\) and épis (\e.pi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59320, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écus is recorded at frequency rank #33,086, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ky\. 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 59320, this pair ranks #103,802 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of écus vs épis
Shared letters: sé. Private to "écus": cu. Private to "épis": ip.
"écus" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "épis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "écus" and "épis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "écus" or "épis" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "écus" 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 #103,802 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écus" and "épis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écus vs étuis". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #103,802 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.