entenduvsétendusWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#820
“entendu” frequency rank
#23,432
“étendus” frequency rank
24252
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature entendu étendus
Definition Qui s’entend bien à une chose. Masculin pluriel de étendu.

Where the eye mixes entendu and étendus

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

7 ch
entendu
7 ch
étendus

Visual trap between entendu and étendus

A purely visual mix-up. entendu (\ɑ̃.tɑ̃.dy\) and étendus (\e.tɑ̃.dy\) 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 7 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24252, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

entendu is recorded at frequency rank #820, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.tɑ̃.dy\. 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 24252, this pair ranks #347,690 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of entendu vs étendus

Shared letters: dentu. Private to "entendu": -. Private to "étendus": .

"entendu" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV  ·  "étendus" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • entenduenetndu · enntendu · entednu · entenddu · entenndu · entenud · entnedu · enttendu

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "entendu" and "étendus" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.tɑ̃.dy\ versus \e.tɑ̃.dy\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "entendu" vs "étendus" - which ranks higher?
"entendu" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #820 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "entendu" and "étendus" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "entendu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "étendus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #347,690 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "entendu" and "étendus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entendis vs étendus". 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 #347,690 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