épaisvsépriseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,019
“épais” frequency rank
#48,285
“éprise” frequency rank
55304
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature épais éprise
Definition Qui a une certaine mesure dans la dimension transversale. Féminin singulier de épris.

Where the eye mixes épais and éprise

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

5 ch
épais
6 ch
éprise

Visual trap between épais and éprise

A purely visual mix-up. épais (\e.pɛ\) and éprise (\e.pʁiz\) 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 55304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

épais is recorded at frequency rank #7,019, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.pɛ\. éprise is at rank #48,285, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.pʁiz\.

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 55304, this pair ranks #128,320 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of épais vs éprise

Shared letters: ipsé. Private to "épais": a. Private to "éprise": er.

"épais" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC  ·  "éprise" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "épais" for "éprise" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\e.pɛ\ versus \e.pʁiz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "épais" or "éprise"?
"épais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,019 in our French list, against #48,285 for "éprise". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "épais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "éprise" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #128,320 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "épais" and "éprise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écrie vs éprise". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #128,320 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