égalementvsétalementConfusable pair

Quick tell: également is a adverb, étalement is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“également” is an adverb and “étalement” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#216
“également” frequency rank
#24,456
“étalement” frequency rank
24672
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature également étalement
Definition Aussi. Disposition de ce qui est étalé.

Where the eye mixes également and étalement

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. également and étalement follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
également
9 ch
étalement

Visual trap between également and étalement

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: également is \e.ɡal.mɑ̃\ while étalement is \e.tal.mɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - g in “également” becomes t in “étalement”, and the parts of speech differ too (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24672, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

également is recorded at frequency rank #216, classified as anadv, pronounced \e.ɡal.mɑ̃\. étalement is at rank #24,456, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.tal.mɑ̃\.

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 24672, this pair ranks #345,269 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of également vs étalement

Shared letters: aelmnté. Private to "également": g. Private to "étalement": -.

"également" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVCC  ·  "étalement" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "également" and "étalement" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "également" is an adverb and "étalement" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "également" or "étalement" show up more?
"également" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #216 in our French list, against #24,456 for "étalement". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "également" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "étalement" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #345,269 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "également" and "étalement" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étalement vs étirement". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #345,269 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list