étalentvsétalsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: étalent is a verb, étals is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“étalent” is a verb and “étals” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,219
“étalent” frequency rank
#34,827
“étals” frequency rank
71046
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature étalent étals
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de étaler. Pluriel de étal.

Same sound, different letters: étalent vs étals

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. étalent runs 7 letters (VCVCVCC) against étals's 5 (VCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
étalent
5 ch
étals

Same sound, different spelling - étalent / étals

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: étalent and étals carry the same recorded pronunciation, \e.tal\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71046, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

étalent is recorded at frequency rank #36,219, classified as averb, pronounced \e.tal\. étals is at rank #34,827, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.tal\.

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 71046, this pair ranks #49,008 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of étalent vs étals

Shared letters: alté. Private to "étalent": en. Private to "étals": s.

"étalent" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCC  ·  "étals" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "étalent" and "étals" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "étalent" is a verb and "étals" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "étalent" vs "étals" - which ranks higher?
"étals" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #34,827 in our French list, against #36,219 for "étalent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"étalent" and "étals" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "étalent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "étals" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #49,008 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "étalent" and "étals" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étai vs étals". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #49,008 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list