entervsépaterWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#39,780
“enter” frequency rank
#38,616
“épater” frequency rank
78396
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enter épater
Definition Greffer en insérant un scion. Priver de l’usage d’une patte.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set enter and épater apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
enter
6 ch
épater

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. enter (\ɑ̃.te\) and épater (\e.pa.te\) 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 78396, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enter is recorded at frequency rank #39,780, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.te\. épater is at rank #38,616, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.pa.te\.

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 78396, this pair ranks #25,859 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of enter vs épater

Shared letters: ert. Private to "enter": n. Private to "épater": apé.

"enter" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "épater" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enterenetr · ennter · entter · etner · neter

Frequency comparison

enter#39,780
épater#38,616

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enter" and "épater" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.te\ versus \e.pa.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "enter" or "épater"?
"épater" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,616 in our French list, against #39,780 for "enter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering enter vs épater

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “enter” 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