entravsentrerTell them apart

Which to use

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

#13,166
“entra” frequency rank
#1,410
“entrer” frequency rank
14576
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature entra entrer
Definition Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de entrer. Aller de dehors vers dedans.

Where the eye mixes entra and entrer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. entra runs 5 letters (VCCCV) against entrer's 6 (VCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
entra
6 ch
entrer

Why the eye confuses entra with entrer

A purely visual mix-up. entra (\ɑ̃.tʁa\) and entrer (\ɑ̃.tʁe\) 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 14576, 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\. entrer is at rank #1,410, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tʁe\.

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 14576, this pair ranks #396,077 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of entra vs entrer

Shared letters: enrt. Private to "entra": a. Private to "entrer": -.

"entra" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "entrer" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • entra ← enntra · enrta · entar · entrra · enttra · etnra · netra
  • entrer ← enntrer · enrter · enterr · entrerr · entrrer · enttrer · etnrer · netrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "entra" and "entrer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.tʁa\ versus \ɑ̃.tʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "entra" or "entrer"?
"entrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,410 in our French list, against #13,166 for "entra". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "entra" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "entrer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #396,077 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "entra" and "entrer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Enora vs entra". 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 #396,077 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