Which to use
“élus” is an adjective and “êtes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,983
- “élus” frequency rank
- #362
- “êtes” frequency rank
- 2345
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | élus | êtes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de élu. | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de être. |
Where the eye mixes élus and êtes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Why the eye confuses élus with êtes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: élus is \e.ly\ while êtes is \ɛt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2345, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
élus is recorded at frequency rank #1,983, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.ly\. êtes is at rank #362, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛt\.
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 2345, this pair ranks #436,308 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of élus vs êtes
Shared letters: s. Private to "élus": lué. Private to "êtes": etê.
"élus" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "êtes" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "élus" for "êtes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "élus" vs "êtes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "élus" and "êtes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "élus" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "êtes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #436,308 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "élus" and "êtes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ell vs élus". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #436,308 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.