Which to use
“était” is a verb and “ETI” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #64
- “était” frequency rank
- #38,788
- “ETI” frequency rank
- 38852
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | était | ETI |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier de l’imparfait du verbe être. | 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 était and ETI
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. était 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.
Look-alike desk: était vs ETI
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: était is \e.tɛ\ while ETI is \ø.te.i\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38852, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
était is recorded at frequency rank #64, classified as averb, 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 38852, this pair ranks #252,345 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of était vs ETI
Shared letters: it. Private to "était": aé. Private to "ETI": e.
"était" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC · "ETI" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "était" and "ETI" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "était" vs "ETI" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "était" 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 #252,345 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "était" and "ETI" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "émit vs ETI". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #252,345 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.