Which to use
“épître” and “étire” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,794
- “épître” frequency rank
- #26,236
- “étire” frequency rank
- 58030
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | épître | étire |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lettre missive, chez les anciens. | lame métallique (anciennement en pierre) montée sur un manche sur le côté le plus long et qui servait à pratiquer le butage. |
Where the eye mixes épître and étire
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. épître runs 6 letters (VCVCCV) against étire's 5 (VCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between épître and étire
A purely visual mix-up. épître (\e.pitʁ\) and étire (\e.tiʁ\) 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 58030, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
épître is recorded at frequency rank #31,794, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.pitʁ\. étire is at rank #26,236, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.tiʁ\.
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 58030, this pair ranks #111,481 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of épître vs étire
Shared letters: erté. Private to "épître": pî. Private to "étire": i.
"épître" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV · "étire" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "épître" for "étire" ever safe?
Frequency check: "épître" vs "étire" - 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 "épître" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étire" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #111,481 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "épître" and "étire" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épier vs épître". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #111,481 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.