Which to use
“entra” is a verb and “entrave” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #13,166
- “entra” frequency rank
- #15,140
- “entrave” frequency rank
- 28306
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | entra | entrave |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de entrer. | Lien qu’on met aux jambes d’un animal, ou traverse suspendue par une corde à son cou, pour en gêner la marche. |
Where the eye mixes entra and entrave
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. entra runs 5 letters (VCCCV) against entrave's 7 (VCCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: entra vs entrave
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: entra is \ɑ̃.tʁa\ while entrave is \ɑ̃.tʁav\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “entra” sits inside “entrave”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28306, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
entra is recorded at frequency rank #13,166, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tʁa\. entrave is at rank #15,140, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.tʁav\.
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 28306, this pair ranks #323,659 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of entra vs entrave
Shared letters: aenrt. Private to "entra": -. Private to "entrave": v.
"entra" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV · "entrave" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "entra" and "entrave" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "entra" vs "entrave" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "entra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "entrave" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #323,659 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "entra" and "entrave" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entrave vs entravée". 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 #323,659 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.