émigrervsétirerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#28,028
“émigrer” frequency rank
#28,030
“étirer” frequency rank
56058
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature émigrer étirer
Definition Quitter son pays pour aller s’établir dans un autre. Étendre, allonger.

Where the eye mixes émigrer and étirer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. émigrer runs 7 letters (VCVCCVC) against étirer's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
émigrer
6 ch
étirer

Look-alike desk: émigrer vs étirer

A purely visual mix-up. émigrer (\e.mi.ɡʁe\) and étirer (\e.ti.ʁe\) 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 56058, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

émigrer is recorded at frequency rank #28,028, classified as averb, pronounced \e.mi.ɡʁe\. étirer is at rank #28,030, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.ti.ʁe\.

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 56058, this pair ranks #123,490 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of émigrer vs étirer

Shared letters: eiré. Private to "émigrer": gm. Private to "étirer": t.

"émigrer" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "étirer" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "émigrer" and "étirer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.mi.ɡʁe\ versus \e.ti.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "émigrer" vs "étirer" - which ranks higher?
"émigrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,028 in our French list, against #28,030 for "étirer". 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 "émigrer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "étirer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #123,490 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "émigrer" and "étirer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épier vs étirer". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #123,490 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