éloignévséloignerWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#7,642
“éloigné” frequency rank
#6,261
“éloigner” frequency rank
13903
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature éloigné éloigner
Definition ou Qui est loin. Écarter une chose ou une personne d’une autre ; mettre, porter, ou envoyer loin de, en parlant des distances, comme du temps.

Same sound, different letters: éloigné vs éloigner

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.

7 ch
éloigné
8 ch
éloigner

Same sound, different spelling - éloigné / éloigner

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: éloigné and éloigner carry the same recorded pronunciation, \e.lwa.ɲe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13903, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

éloigné is recorded at frequency rank #7,642, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.lwa.ɲe\. éloigner is at rank #6,261, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.lwa.ɲe\.

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 13903, this pair ranks #399,026 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of éloigné vs éloigner

Shared letters: gilnoé. Private to "éloigné": -. Private to "éloigner": er.

"éloigné" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCCV  ·  "éloigner" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "éloigné" and "éloigner" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "éloigné" is an adjective and "éloigner" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "éloigné" or "éloigner"?
"éloigner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,261 in our French list, against #7,642 for "éloigné". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"éloigné" and "éloigner" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "éloigné" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "éloigner" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #399,026 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "éloigné" and "éloigner" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éloigné vs éloignez". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #399,026 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