Which to use
“essayes” and “essuyer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,377
- “essayes” frequency rank
- #17,130
- “essuyer” frequency rank
- 30507
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | essayes | essuyer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de essayer. | Sécher en frottant, par exemple avec un objet absorbant. |
Where the eye mixes essayes and essuyer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. essayes and essuyer follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between essayes and essuyer
A purely visual mix-up. essayes (\e.sɛj\) and essuyer (\ɛ.sɥi.je\) 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 30507, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
essayes is recorded at frequency rank #13,377, classified as averb, pronounced \e.sɛj\. essuyer is at rank #17,130, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ.sɥi.je\.
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 30507, this pair ranks #309,863 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of essayes vs essuyer
Shared letters: esy. Private to "essayes": a. Private to "essuyer": ru.
"essayes" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC · "essuyer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "essayes" and "essuyer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "essayes" or "essuyer"?
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 "essayes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "essuyer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #309,863 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "essayes" and "essuyer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "essay vs essayes". 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 #309,863 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.