éluesvsétuisWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: élues is a adjective, étuis is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“élues” is an adjective and “étuis” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,027
“élues” frequency rank
#47,703
“étuis” frequency rank
75730
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature élues étuis
Definition Féminin pluriel de élu. Pluriel de étui.

Where the eye mixes élues and étuis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
élues
5 ch
étuis

Look-alike desk: élues vs étuis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: élues is \e.ly\ while étuis is \e.tɥi\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75730, 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\. étuis is at rank #47,703, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.tɥi\.

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 75730, this pair ranks #33,163 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of élues vs étuis

Shared letters: sué. Private to "élues": el. Private to "étuis": it.

"élues" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC  ·  "étuis" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "élues" and "étuis" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "élues" is an adjective and "étuis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "élues" or "étuis" show up more?
"élues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,027 in our French list, against #47,703 for "étuis". 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 "étuis" 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 "étuis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #33,163 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "élues" and "étuis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étai vs étuis". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #33,163 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