élitesvsémisesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

“élites” is a noun and “émises” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,486
“élites” frequency rank
#14,829
“émises” frequency rank
23315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature élites émises
Definition Pluriel de élite. Participe passé féminin pluriel de émettre.

Where the eye mixes élites and émises

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
élites
6 ch
émises

Look-alike desk: élites vs émises

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: élites is \e.lit\ while émises is \e.miz\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

élites is recorded at frequency rank #8,486, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.lit\. émises is at rank #14,829, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.miz\.

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 23315, this pair ranks #353,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of élites vs émises

Shared letters: eisé. Private to "élites": lt. Private to "émises": m.

"élites" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC  ·  "émises" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "élites" and "émises" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "élites" is a noun and "émises" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "élites" vs "émises" - which ranks higher?
"élites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,486 in our French list, against #14,829 for "émises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "élites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "émises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #353,219 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "élites" and "émises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "édiles vs émises". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #353,219 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