éprisvsépriseWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#24,088
“épris” frequency rank
#48,285
“éprise” frequency rank
72373
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature épris éprise
Definition Qui est saisi par un vif sentiment de relation affective, une passion pour quelqu'un ou quelque chose. Féminin singulier de épris.

Where the eye mixes épris and éprise

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

5 ch
épris
6 ch
éprise

Look-alike desk: épris vs éprise

A purely visual mix-up. épris (\e.pʁi\) 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 extra letter(s) - “épris” sits inside “éprise”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72373, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

épris is recorded at frequency rank #24,088, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.pʁi\. 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 72373, this pair ranks #44,242 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of épris vs éprise

Shared letters: iprsé. Private to "épris": -. Private to "éprise": e.

"épris" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "éprise" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "épris" and "éprise" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.pʁi\ versus \e.pʁiz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "épris" or "éprise" show up more?
"épris" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,088 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.

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 "épris" 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 #44,242 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "épris" and "éprise" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écrie vs éprise". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #44,242 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