entêtementvsentièrementWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: entêtement is a noun, entièrement is an adverb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“entêtement” is a noun and “entièrement” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,592
“entêtement” frequency rank
#1,562
“entièrement” frequency rank
32154
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature entêtement entièrement
Definition Attachement opiniâtre d’une personne à ses opinions, à ses goûts, à ses vues, à ses projets, etc. D'une manière entière.

Where the eye mixes entêtement and entièrement

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. entêtement runs 10 letters (VCCVCVCVCC) against entièrement's 11 (VCCVVCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
entêtement
11 ch
entièrement

Visual trap between entêtement and entièrement

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: entêtement is \ɑ̃.tɛt.mɑ̃\ while entièrement is \ɑ̃.tjɛʁ.mɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32154, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

entêtement is recorded at frequency rank #30,592, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.tɛt.mɑ̃\. entièrement is at rank #1,562, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ɑ̃.tjɛʁ.mɑ̃\.

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 32154, this pair ranks #299,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of entêtement vs entièrement

Shared letters: emnt. Private to "entêtement": ê. Private to "entièrement": irè.

"entêtement" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCC  ·  "entièrement" · 11 letters · shape VCCVVCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "entêtement" and "entièrement" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "entêtement" is a noun and "entièrement" an adverb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "entêtement" or "entièrement"?
"entièrement" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,562 in our French list, against #30,592 for "entêtement". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "entêtement" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "entièrement" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #299,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "entêtement" and "entièrement" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entendement vs entêtement". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #299,149 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