Which to use
“émotions” is a noun and “étions” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #3,654
- “émotions” frequency rank
- #3,507
- “étions” frequency rank
- 7161
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | émotions | étions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de émotion. | Première personne du pluriel de l’imparfait de être. |
Where the eye mixes émotions and étions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. émotions runs 8 letters (VCVCVVCC) against étions's 6 (VCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: émotions vs étions
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: émotions is \e.mɔ.sjɔ̃\ while étions is \e.tjɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
émotions is recorded at frequency rank #3,654, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.mɔ.sjɔ̃\. étions is at rank #3,507, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.tjɔ̃\.
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 7161, this pair ranks #424,021 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of émotions vs étions
Shared letters: inosté. Private to "émotions": m. Private to "étions": -.
"émotions" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVVCC · "étions" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "émotions" and "étions" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "émotions" or "étions"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "émotions" and "étions" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "émotions" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #424,021 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "émotions" and "étions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "emotion vs émotions". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #424,021 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.