Which to use
“émoi” and “étui” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,825
- “émoi” frequency rank
- #20,902
- “étui” frequency rank
- 45727
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | émoi | étui |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Forte inquiétude. | Contenant pour mettre, porter ou conserver un objet, et dont la forme varie selon les objets. |
Where the eye mixes émoi and étui
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. émoi and étui follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: émoi vs étui
A purely visual mix-up. émoi (\e.mwa\) and étui (\e.tɥi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
émoi is recorded at frequency rank #24,825, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.mwa\. étui is at rank #20,902, 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 45727, this pair ranks #200,492 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of émoi vs étui
Shared letters: ié. Private to "émoi": mo. Private to "étui": tu.
"émoi" · 4 letters · shape VCVV · "étui" · 4 letters · shape VCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "émoi" and "étui" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "émoi" or "étui" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "émoi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #200,492 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "émoi" and "étui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "émit vs émoi". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #200,492 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.