élève vs elle, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“élève” is a noun and “elle” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,796
“élève” frequency rank: #41
“elle” frequency rank: 1837
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	élève	elle
Definition	Personne qui reçoit ou qui a reçu l'enseignement de quelqu'un autre.	Pronom clitique de la troisième personne du singulier féminin sujet.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set élève and elle apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

élève

4 ch

elle

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: élève is \e.lɛv\ while elle is \ɛl\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1837, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

élève is recorded at frequency rank #1,796, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.lɛv\. elle is at rank #41, tagged as apron, pronounced \ɛl\.

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 1837, this pair ranks #437,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of élève vs elle

Shared letters: el. Private to "élève": vèé. Private to "elle": -.

"élève" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "elle" · 4 letters · shape VCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

elle ← elel · lele

Frequency comparison

élève#1,796

elle#41

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "élève" and "elle" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "élève" is a noun and "elle" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "élève" or "elle"?

"elle" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #41 in our French list, against #1,796 for "élève". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering élève vs elle

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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