estimevsestimentTell them apart

Quick tell: estime is a noun, estiment is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“estime” is a noun and “estiment” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,952
“estime” frequency rank
#7,690
“estiment” frequency rank
9642
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature estime estiment
Definition Opinion favorable que l’on a de quelqu’un, fondée sur la connaissance de son mérite, de ses bonnes qualités, de ses vertus. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de estimer.

Same sound, different letters: estime vs estiment

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. estime runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against estiment's 8 (VCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
estime
8 ch
estiment

Ear matches; page differs - estime and estiment

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: estime and estiment carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɛs.tim\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “estime” sits inside “estiment”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9642, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

estime is recorded at frequency rank #1,952, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛs.tim\. estiment is at rank #7,690, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛs.tim\.

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 9642, this pair ranks #415,932 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of estime vs estiment

Shared letters: eimst. Private to "estime": -. Private to "estiment": n.

"estime" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "estiment" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • estime ← esitme · esstime · estiem · estimme · estmie · esttime · etsime · setime
  • estiment ← esitment · esstiment · estiemnt · estimennt · estimentt · estimetn · estimment · estimnet

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "estime" and "estiment" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "estime" is a noun and "estiment" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "estime" or "estiment" show up more?
"estime" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,952 in our French list, against #7,690 for "estiment". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"estime" and "estiment" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "estime" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "estiment" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #415,932 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "estime" and "estiment" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "estiment vs estimes". 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 #415,932 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