éluesvsémueTell them apart

Which to use

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

#28,027
“élues” frequency rank
#16,520
“émue” frequency rank
44547
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature élues émue
Definition Féminin pluriel de élu. Féminin singulier de ému.

Where the eye mixes élues and émue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. élues runs 5 letters (VCVVC) against émue's 4 (VCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
élues
4 ch
émue

Visual trap between élues and émue

A purely visual mix-up. élues (\e.ly\) and émue (\e.my\) 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 44547, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

élues is recorded at frequency rank #28,027, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.ly\. émue is at rank #16,520, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.my\.

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 44547, this pair ranks #209,663 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of élues vs émue

Shared letters: eué. Private to "élues": ls. Private to "émue": m.

"élues" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC  ·  "émue" · 4 letters · shape VCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "élues" and "émue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\e.ly\ versus \e.my\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "élues" or "émue"?
"émue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,520 in our French list, against #28,027 for "élues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "élues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "émue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #209,663 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "élues" and "émue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éluder vs élues". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #209,663 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