Which to use
“étais” and “étuis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #358
- “étais” frequency rank
- #47,703
- “étuis” frequency rank
- 48061
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étais | étuis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de étai. | Pluriel de étui. |
Where the eye mixes étais and étuis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. étais and étuis follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: étais vs étuis
A purely visual mix-up. étais (\e.tɛ\) and étuis (\e.tɥi\) 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 a single letter - a in “étais” becomes u in “étuis”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48061, 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\. étuis is at rank #47,703, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.tɥi\.
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 48061, this pair ranks #181,965 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of étais vs étuis
Shared letters: isté. Private to "étais": a. Private to "étuis": u.
"étais" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC · "étuis" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "étais" and "étuis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "étais" or "étuis" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "étais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étuis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #181,965 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "étais" and "étuis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étai vs étuis". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #181,965 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.