empreintsvsempruntsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: empreints is a adjective, emprunts is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“empreints” is an adjective and “emprunts” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,140
“empreints” frequency rank
#10,696
“emprunts” frequency rank
56836
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empreints emprunts
Definition Masculin pluriel de empreint. Pluriel de emprunt.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set empreints and emprunts apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
empreints
8 ch
emprunts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: empreints is \ɑ̃.pʁɛ̃\ while emprunts is \ɑ̃.pʁœ̃\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56836, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empreints is recorded at frequency rank #46,140, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.pʁɛ̃\. emprunts is at rank #10,696, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.pʁœ̃\.

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 56836, this pair ranks #118,621 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of empreints vs emprunts

Shared letters: emnprst. Private to "empreints": i. Private to "emprunts": u.

"empreints" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVCCC  ·  "emprunts" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • empreintsemmpreints · emperints · emppreints · empreinnts · empreinst · empreintss · empreintts · empreitns
  • empruntsemmprunts · empprunts · emprnuts · emprrunts · emprunnts · emprunst · empruntss · empruntts

Frequency comparison

empreints#46,140
emprunts#10,696

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "empreints" and "emprunts" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "empreints" is an adjective and "emprunts" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "empreints" or "emprunts"?
"emprunts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,696 in our French list, against #46,140 for "empreints". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering empreints vs emprunts

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list