élit vs était, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“élit” and “était” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,669
“élit” frequency rank: #64
“était” frequency rank: 27733
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	élit	était
Definition	Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de élire.	Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait du verbe être.

Where the spellings diverge

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

4 ch

élit

5 ch

était

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. élit (\e.li\) and était (\e.tɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27733, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

élit is recorded at frequency rank #27,669, classified as averb, pronounced \e.li\. était is at rank #64, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.tɛ\.

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 27733, this pair ranks #327,128 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of élit vs était

Shared letters: ité. Private to "élit": l. Private to "était": a.

"élit" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "était" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC

Frequency comparison

élit#27,669

était#64

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "élit" and "était" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\e.li\ versus \e.tɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "élit" or "était"?

"était" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #64 in our French list, against #27,669 for "élit". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering élit vs était

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “élit” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable