Which to use
“étale” is an adjective and “étalées” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,318
- “étale” frequency rank
- #44,277
- “étalées” frequency rank
- 61595
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étale | étalées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est stationnaire. | Participe passé féminin pluriel de étaler. |
Where the eye mixes étale and étalées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. étale runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against étalées's 7 (VCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between étale and étalées
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étale is \e.tal\ while étalées is \e.ta.le\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61595, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
étale is recorded at frequency rank #17,318, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.tal\. étalées is at rank #44,277, 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 61595, this pair ranks #91,428 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of étale vs étalées
Shared letters: aelté. Private to "étale": -. Private to "étalées": s.
"étale" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "étalées" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "étale" for "étalées" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "étale" or "étalées" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "étale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étalées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #91,428 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "étale" and "étalées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étalées vs étayée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #91,428 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.