Which to use
“édite” is a verb and “étire” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #25,864
- “édite” frequency rank
- #26,236
- “étire” frequency rank
- 52100
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | édite | étire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de éditer. | lame métallique (anciennement en pierre) montée sur un manche sur le côté le plus long et qui servait à pratiquer le butage. |
Where the eye mixes édite and étire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. édite and étire follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses édite with étire
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: édite is \e.dit\ while étire is \e.tiʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52100, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
édite is recorded at frequency rank #25,864, classified as averb, pronounced \e.dit\. étire is at rank #26,236, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.tiʁ\.
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 52100, this pair ranks #150,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of édite vs étire
Shared letters: eité. Private to "édite": d. Private to "étire": r.
"édite" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "étire" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "édite" for "étire" ever safe?
Which is more common, "édite" or "étire"?
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 "édite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #150,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "édite" and "étire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "édite vs edito". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #150,183 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.