endvsétéConfusable pair

Quick tell: end is a verb, été is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,229
“end” frequency rank
#65
“été” frequency rank
1294
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature end été
Definition Tisser, tramer. La plus chaude des quatre saisons de l’année. Dans l’hémisphère nord, l’été astronomique s’étend du 7 mai au 7 août, le solstice d’été représentant le milieu de l’été. L’été météorologique, qui comprend les mois les plus chauds de l’année, comprend les mois de juin, juillet et août. L’été calendaire français, enfin, s’étend du 21 juin (solstice d’été) au 22 septembre (équinoxe d’automne). Dans l’hémisphère sud, ce découpage correspond à la saison d’hiver.

Where the eye mixes end and été

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. No shared run - shape, not overlap, is the trap.

3 ch
end
3 ch
été

Visual trap between end and été

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: end is \ˈend\ while été is \e.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1294, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

end is recorded at frequency rank #1,229, classified as averb, pronounced \ˈend\. été is at rank #65, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.te\.

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 1294, this pair ranks #438,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of end vs été

Shared letters: none. Private to "end": den. Private to "été": .

"end" · 3 letters · shape VCC  ·  "été" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "end" and "été" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "end" is a verb and "été" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "end" vs "été" - which ranks higher?
"été" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #65 in our French list, against #1,229 for "end". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "end" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "été" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #438,297 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "end" and "été" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "end vs EPO". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #438,297 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