Which to use
“engendre” and “étendre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,761
- “engendre” frequency rank
- #5,515
- “étendre” frequency rank
- 17276
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | engendre | étendre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de engendrer. | Faire qu’une chose acquière plus de surface ou plus de volume, soit en la rendant plus mince, soit en la tirant ou en la dilatant. |
Where the eye mixes engendre and étendre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. engendre runs 8 letters (VCCVCCCV) against étendre's 7 (VCVCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between engendre and étendre
A purely visual mix-up. engendre (\ɑ̃.ʒɑ̃dʁ\) and étendre (\e.tɑ̃dʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17276, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
engendre is recorded at frequency rank #11,761, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.ʒɑ̃dʁ\. étendre is at rank #5,515, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.tɑ̃dʁ\.
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 17276, this pair ranks #383,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of engendre vs étendre
Shared letters: denr. Private to "engendre": g. Private to "étendre": té.
"engendre" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV · "étendre" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- engendre ← egnendre · enegndre · engednre · engenddre · engender · engendrre · engenndre · engenrde
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "engendre" for "étendre" ever safe?
Which is more common, "engendre" or "étendre"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "engendre" and "étendre" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "engendre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étendre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #383,951 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "engendre" and "étendre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éteindra vs étendre". 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 #383,951 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.