Which to use
“enseignent” and “éteignent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,577
- “enseignent” frequency rank
- #33,946
- “éteignent” frequency rank
- 58523
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | enseignent | éteignent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de enseigner. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de éteindre. |
Where the eye mixes enseignent and éteignent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. enseignent runs 10 letters (VCCVVCCVCC) against éteignent's 9 (VCVVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: enseignent vs éteignent
A purely visual mix-up. enseignent (\ɑ̃.sɛɲ\) and éteignent (\e.tɛɲ\) 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 58523, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
enseignent is recorded at frequency rank #24,577, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.sɛɲ\. éteignent is at rank #33,946, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.tɛɲ\.
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 58523, this pair ranks #108,572 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of enseignent vs éteignent
Shared letters: egint. Private to "enseignent": s. Private to "éteignent": é.
"enseignent" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVCCVCC · "éteignent" · 9 letters · shape VCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- enseignent ← enesignent · ennseignent · enseginent · enseigennt · enseiggnent · enseignennt · enseignentt · enseignetn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "enseignent" for "éteignent" ever safe?
Frequency check: "enseignent" vs "éteignent" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "enseignent" and "éteignent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "enseignent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "éteignent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #108,572 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "enseignent" and "éteignent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éteignent vs éteignez". 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 #108,572 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.