encresvsentréeTell them apart

Which to use

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

#34,521
“encres” frequency rank
#752
“entrée” frequency rank
35273
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature encres entrée
Definition Pluriel de encre. Endroit par où l’on entre dans un lieu.

Where the eye mixes encres and entrée

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. encres (VCCCVC) and entrée (VCCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
encres
6 ch
entrée

Visual trap between encres and entrée

A purely visual mix-up. encres (\ɑ̃kʁ\) and entrée (\ɑ̃.tʁe\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35273, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

encres is recorded at frequency rank #34,521, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃kʁ\. entrée is at rank #752, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.tʁe\.

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 35273, this pair ranks #277,952 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of encres vs entrée

Shared letters: enr. Private to "encres": cs. Private to "entrée": té.

"encres" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC  ·  "entrée" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • encres ← ecnres · enccres · encers · encress · encrres · encrse · enncres · enrces

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "encres" for "entrée" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃kʁ\ versus \ɑ̃.tʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "encres" vs "entrée" - which ranks higher?
"entrée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #752 in our French list, against #34,521 for "encres". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "encres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "entrée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #277,952 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "encres" and "entrée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "encres vs énerves". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #277,952 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