Which to use
“enlèvement” and “entêtement” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,558
- “enlèvement” frequency rank
- #30,592
- “entêtement” frequency rank
- 38150
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | enlèvement | entêtement |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action d’enlever. | Attachement opiniâtre d’une personne à ses opinions, à ses goûts, à ses vues, à ses projets, etc. |
Where the eye mixes enlèvement and entêtement
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. enlèvement and entêtement follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses enlèvement with entêtement
A purely visual mix-up. enlèvement (\ɑ̃.lɛv.mɑ̃\) and entêtement (\ɑ̃.tɛt.mɑ̃\) 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 38150, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
enlèvement is recorded at frequency rank #7,558, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.lɛv.mɑ̃\. entêtement is at rank #30,592, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.tɛt.mɑ̃\.
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 38150, this pair ranks #257,315 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of enlèvement vs entêtement
Shared letters: emnt. Private to "enlèvement": lvè. Private to "entêtement": ê.
"enlèvement" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCC · "entêtement" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "enlèvement" and "entêtement" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "enlèvement" or "entêtement" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "enlèvement" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "entêtement" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #257,315 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "enlèvement" and "entêtement" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entendement vs entêtement". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #257,315 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.