entendevsétendreConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#18,475
“entende” frequency rank
#5,515
“étendre” frequency rank
23990
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature entende étendre
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent du subjonctif du verbe entendre. 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 entende and étendre

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. entende (VCCVCCV) and étendre (VCVCCCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
entende
7 ch
étendre

Why the eye confuses entende with étendre

A purely visual mix-up. entende (\ɑ̃.tɑ̃d\) 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 share most of their letters but differ in 6 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23990, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

entende is recorded at frequency rank #18,475, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tɑ̃d\. 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 23990, this pair ranks #349,289 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of entende vs étendre

Shared letters: dent. Private to "entende": -. Private to "étendre": .

"entende" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "étendre" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • entendeenetnde · enntende · entedne · entendde · entened · entennde · entnede · enttende

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "entende" and "étendre" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.tɑ̃d\ versus \e.tɑ̃dʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "entende" vs "étendre" - which ranks higher?
"étendre" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,515 in our French list, against #18,475 for "entende". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "entende" 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 #349,289 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "entende" and "étendre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entende vs entêté". 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 #349,289 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