entêté vs entière, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#49,635
“entêté” frequency rank: #2,574
“entière” frequency rank: 52209
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	entêté	entière
Definition	Qui est trop attaché à ses opinions, à ses désirs ; à qui l’on ne peut faire entendre raison.	Féminin singulier de entier.

Where the spellings diverge

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

6 ch

entêté

7 ch

entière

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. entêté (\ɑ̃.te.te\) and entière (\ɑ̃.tjɛʁ\) 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 52209, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

entêté is recorded at frequency rank #49,635, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.te.te\. entière is at rank #2,574, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.tjɛʁ\.

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 52209, this pair ranks #149,321 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of entêté vs entière

Shared letters: ent. Private to "entêté": éê. Private to "entière": irè.

"entêté" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "entière" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV

Frequency comparison

entêté#49,635

entière#2,574

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "entêté" and "entière" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.te.te\ versus \ɑ̃.tjɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "entêté" or "entière"?

"entière" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,574 in our French list, against #49,635 for "entêté". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering entêté vs entière

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 “entêté” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable