étale vs été, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“étale” is an adjective and “été” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,318
“étale” frequency rank: #65
“été” frequency rank: 17383
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	étale	été
Definition	Qui est stationnaire.	La plus chaude des quatre saisons de l’année. Dans l’hémisphère nord, l’été astronomique s’étend du 7 mai au 7 août, le solstice d’été représentant le milieu de l’été. L’été météorologique, qui comprend les mois les plus chauds de l’année, comprend les mois de juin, juillet et août. L’été calendaire français, enfin, s’étend du 21 juin (solstice d’été) au 22 septembre (équinoxe d’automne). Dans l’hémisphère sud, ce découpage correspond à la saison d’hiver.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set étale and été apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch

étale

3 ch

été

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étale is \e.tal\ while été is \e.te\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17383, 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\. été is at rank #65, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.te\.

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 17383, this pair ranks #383,449 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of étale vs été

Shared letters: té. Private to "étale": ael. Private to "été": -.

"étale" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "été" · 3 letters · shape VCV

Frequency comparison

étale#17,318

été#65

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "étale" and "été" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "étale" is an adjective and "été" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "étale" or "été"?

"été" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #65 in our French list, against #17,318 for "étale". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering étale vs été

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “étale”; for a noun, it's “été”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “étale” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable