Which to use
“écus” and “étuis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #33,086
- “écus” frequency rank
- #47,703
- “étuis” frequency rank
- 80789
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écus | étuis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de écu. | Pluriel de étui. |
Where the eye mixes écus and étuis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. écus runs 4 letters (VCVC) against étuis's 5 (VCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: écus vs étuis
A purely visual mix-up. écus (\e.ky\) and étuis (\e.tɥi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 80789, 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\. étuis is at rank #47,703, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.tɥi\.
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 80789, this pair ranks #20,141 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of écus vs étuis
Shared letters: sué. Private to "écus": c. Private to "étuis": it.
"écus" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "étuis" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "écus" and "étuis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "écus" or "étuis"?
What to do next
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 "étuis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #20,141 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écus" and "étuis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étai vs étuis". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #20,141 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.