émis vs étuis, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#6,454
“émis” frequency rank: #47,703
“étuis” frequency rank: 54157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	émis	étuis
Definition	Participe passé masculin de émettre.	Pluriel de étui.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set émis and étuis apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

émis

5 ch

étuis

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: émis is \e.mi\ while étuis is \e.tɥi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

émis is recorded at frequency rank #6,454, classified as averb, pronounced \e.mi\. 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 54157, this pair ranks #135,883 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of émis vs étuis

Shared letters: isé. Private to "émis": m. Private to "étuis": tu.

"émis" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "étuis" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC

Frequency comparison

émis#6,454

étuis#47,703

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "émis" and "étuis" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "émis" is a verb and "étuis" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "émis" or "étuis"?

"émis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,454 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.

Remembering émis vs étuis

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “émis”; for a noun, it's “étuis”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “émis” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable