étais vs ETI, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“étais” and “ETI” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#358
“étais” frequency rank: #38,788
“ETI” frequency rank: 39146
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	étais	ETI
Definition	Pluriel de étai.	Entreprise qui a entre 250 et 4999 salariés et respecte certains critères en matière de bilan et de chiffre d'affaires.

Where the eye mixes étais and ETI

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. étais runs 5 letters (VCVVC) against ETI's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch

étais

3 ch

ETI

Why the eye confuses étais with ETI

A purely visual mix-up. étais (\e.tɛ\) and ETI (\ø.te.i\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39146, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

étais is recorded at frequency rank #358, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.tɛ\. ETI is at rank #38,788, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ø.te.i\.

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 39146, this pair ranks #250,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of étais vs ETI

Shared letters: it. Private to "étais": asé. Private to "ETI": e.

"étais" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC · "ETI" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "étais" for "ETI" ever safe?

No. They are said differently (\e.tɛ\ versus \ø.te.i\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Frequency check: "étais" vs "ETI" - which ranks higher?

"étais" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #358 in our French list, against #38,788 for "ETI". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "étais" and "ETI" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

Full dictionary entry for "étais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "ETI" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #250,149 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
"étais" and "ETI" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "émit vs ETI". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #250,149 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.