elevenvsélèventConfusable pair

Quick tell: eleven is a adjective, élèvent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“eleven” is an adjective and “élèvent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#35,490
“eleven” frequency rank
#11,891
“élèvent” frequency rank
47381
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature eleven élèvent
Definition Onze. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de élever.

Where the eye mixes eleven and élèvent

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. eleven runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against élèvent's 7 (VCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
eleven
7 ch
élèvent

Visual trap between eleven and élèvent

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: eleven is \ɪ.ˈlɛv.ən\ while élèvent is \e.lɛv\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47381, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

eleven is recorded at frequency rank #35,490, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɪ.ˈlɛv.ən\. élèvent is at rank #11,891, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.lɛv\.

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 47381, this pair ranks #187,430 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of eleven vs élèvent

Shared letters: elnv. Private to "eleven": -. Private to "élèvent": tèé.

"eleven" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "élèvent" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • eleven ← eelven · eleevn · elevenn · elevne · elevven · elleven · elveen · leeven

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "eleven" for "élèvent" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "eleven" is an adjective and "élèvent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "eleven" or "élèvent"?
"élèvent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,891 in our French list, against #35,490 for "eleven". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "eleven" and "élèvent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "eleven" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "élèvent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #187,430 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "eleven" and "élèvent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éleva vs eleven". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #187,430 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