Which to use
“ester” is a noun and “êtes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,506
- “ester” frequency rank
- #362
- “êtes” frequency rank
- 35868
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ester | êtes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Molécule obtenue par la réaction chimique entre un alcool et un oxoacide. | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de être. |
Where the eye mixes ester and êtes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: ester vs êtes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ester is \ɛs.tɛʁ\ while êtes is \ɛt\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ester is recorded at frequency rank #35,506, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛs.tɛʁ\. êtes is at rank #362, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛt\.
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 35868, this pair ranks #273,665 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ester vs êtes
Shared letters: est. Private to "ester": r. Private to "êtes": ê.
"ester" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "êtes" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ester ← esetr · esster · esterr · estre · estter · etser · seter
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ester" and "êtes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "ester" vs "êtes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "ester" and "êtes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ester" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "êtes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #273,665 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ester" and "êtes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épier vs ester". 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 #273,665 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.