Which to use
“étai” and “étals” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #48,289
- “étai” frequency rank
- #34,827
- “étals” frequency rank
- 83116
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étai | étals |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pièce de bois ou de fer utilisée pour soutenir une construction qui menace de s’écrouler, ou qui est en travaux. | Pluriel de étal. |
Where the eye mixes étai and étals
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. étai runs 4 letters (VCVV) against étals's 5 (VCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: étai vs étals
A purely visual mix-up. étai (\e.tɛ\) and étals (\e.tal\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 83116, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
étai is recorded at frequency rank #48,289, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.tɛ\. étals is at rank #34,827, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.tal\.
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 83116, this pair ranks #15,421 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of étai vs étals
Shared letters: até. Private to "étai": i. Private to "étals": ls.
"étai" · 4 letters · shape VCVV · "étals" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "étai" for "étals" ever safe?
Frequency check: "étai" vs "étals" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "étai" and "étals" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "étai" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étals" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #15,421 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "étai" and "étals" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étai vs étuis". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #15,421 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.