Which to use
“entretien” is a noun and “entretient” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,592
- “entretien” frequency rank
- #8,108
- “entretient” frequency rank
- 9700
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | entretien | entretient |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Maintenance ; ensemble des soins et dépenses qu'exigent le maintien de certaines choses en bon état. | Troisième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de entretenir. |
Same sound, different letters: entretien vs entretient
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. entretien runs 9 letters (VCCCVCVVC) against entretient's 10 (VCCCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: entretien vs entretient
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: entretien and entretient carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “entretien” sits inside “entretient”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9700, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
entretien is recorded at frequency rank #1,592, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃\. entretient is at rank #8,108, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tʁə.tjɛ̃\.
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 9700, this pair ranks #415,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of entretien vs entretient
Shared letters: einrt. Private to "entretien": -. Private to "entretient": -.
"entretien" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCVVC · "entretient" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- entretien ← enntretien · enrtetien · entertien · entreiten · entretein · entretienn · entretine · entrettien
- entretient ← enntretient · enrtetient · entertient · entreitent · entreteint · entretiennt · entretientt · entretietn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "entretien" for "entretient" ever safe?
Which is more common, "entretien" or "entretient"?
After this comparison
"entretien" and "entretient" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "entretien" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "entretient" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "entretien" and "entretient" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "entretien vs entretuer". 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 #415,741 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.