éprisevsépuiséConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#48,285
“éprise” frequency rank
#9,259
“épuisé” frequency rank
57544
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature éprise épuisé
Definition Féminin singulier de épris. (En parlant d’un gisement, d’une source) Qui ne contient plus de produit exploitable.

Where the eye mixes éprise and épuisé

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. éprise (VCCVCV) and épuisé (VCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
éprise
6 ch
épuisé

Why the eye confuses éprise with épuisé

A purely visual mix-up. éprise (\e.pʁiz\) and épuisé (\e.pɥi.ze\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

éprise is recorded at frequency rank #48,285, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.pʁiz\. épuisé is at rank #9,259, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.pɥi.ze\.

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 57544, this pair ranks #114,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of éprise vs épuisé

Shared letters: ipsé. Private to "éprise": er. Private to "épuisé": u.

"éprise" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "épuisé" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "éprise" and "épuisé" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\e.pʁiz\ versus \e.pɥi.ze\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "éprise" vs "épuisé" - which ranks higher?
"épuisé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,259 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.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "éprise" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "épuisé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #114,394 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "éprise" and "épuisé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écrie vs éprise". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #114,394 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