éditevsétireWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: édite is a verb, étire is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

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 spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set édite and étire apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
édite
5 ch
étire

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

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

Frequency comparison

édite#25,864
étire#26,236

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "édite" and "étire" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "édite" is a verb and "étire" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "édite" or "étire"?
"édite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,864 in our French list, against #26,236 for "étire". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering édite vs étire

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “édite”; for a noun, it's “étire”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “édite” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list