entendsvsétendusWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: entends is a verb, étendus is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“entends” is a verb and “étendus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,275
“entends” frequency rank
#23,432
“étendus” frequency rank
25707
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature entends étendus
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de entendre. Masculin pluriel de étendu.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set entends and étendus apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
entends
7 ch
étendus

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: entends is \ɑ̃.tɑ̃\ while étendus is \e.tɑ̃.dy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 6 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

entends is recorded at frequency rank #2,275, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tɑ̃\. étendus is at rank #23,432, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.tɑ̃.dy\.

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 25707, this pair ranks #339,327 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of entends vs étendus

Shared letters: denst. Private to "entends": -. Private to "étendus": .

"entends" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCC  ·  "étendus" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • entendsenetnds · enntends · entedns · entendds · entendss · entennds · entensd · entneds

Frequency comparison

entends#2,275
étendus#23,432

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "entends" and "étendus" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "entends" is a verb and "étendus" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "entends" or "étendus"?
"entends" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,275 in our French list, against #23,432 for "étendus". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering entends vs étendus

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “entends”; for an adjective, it's “étendus”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “entends” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list