Which to use
“étagère” is a noun and “étalée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,620
- “étagère” frequency rank
- #31,313
- “étalée” frequency rank
- 51933
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étagère | étalée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Planche fixée horizontalement et destinée au rangement. | Participe passé féminin singulier de étaler. |
Where the eye mixes étagère and étalée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. étagère runs 7 letters (VCVCVCV) against étalée's 6 (VCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses étagère with étalée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étagère is \e.ta.ʒɛʁ\ while étalée is \e.ta.le\. 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 51933, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
étagère is recorded at frequency rank #20,620, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ta.ʒɛʁ\. étalée is at rank #31,313, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.ta.le\.
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 51933, this pair ranks #151,356 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of étagère vs étalée
Shared letters: aeté. Private to "étagère": grè. Private to "étalée": l.
"étagère" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV · "étalée" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "étagère" and "étalée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "étagère" or "étalée"?
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 "étagère" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étalée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #151,356 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "étagère" and "étalée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étalée vs étayée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #151,356 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.