Which to use
“épais” is an adjective and “essais” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,019
- “épais” frequency rank
- #2,877
- “essais” frequency rank
- 9896
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | épais | essais |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a une certaine mesure dans la dimension transversale. | Pluriel de essai. |
Where the eye mixes épais and essais
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. épais runs 5 letters (VCVVC) against essais's 6 (VCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses épais with essais
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: épais is \e.pɛ\ while essais is \ɛ.sɛ\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9896, 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\. essais is at rank #2,877, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ.sɛ\.
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 9896, this pair ranks #415,006 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of épais vs essais
Shared letters: ais. Private to "épais": pé. Private to "essais": e.
"épais" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC · "essais" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- essais ← esais · esasis · essaiss · essasi · essias · sesais
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "épais" and "essais" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "épais" vs "essais" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "épais" and "essais" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "épais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "essais" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,006 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "épais" and "essais" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épais vs étai". 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 #415,006 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.