étatvsexactWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: état is a noun, exact is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#200
“état” frequency rank
#4,147
“exact” frequency rank
4347
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature état exact
Definition Disposition dans laquelle se trouve une personne, une chose, une affaire. Qui suit rigoureusement la vérité, la convention.

Where the eye mixes état and exact

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
état
5 ch
exact

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: état is \e.ta\ while exact is \ɛɡ.zakt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4347, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

état is recorded at frequency rank #200, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ta\. exact is at rank #4,147, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛɡ.zakt\.

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 4347, this pair ranks #431,833 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of état vs exact

Shared letters: at. Private to "état": é. Private to "exact": cex.

"état" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "exact" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • exacteaxct · exacct · exactt · exatc · excat · exxact · xeact

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "état" and "exact" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "état" is a noun and "exact" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "état" or "exact"?
"état" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #200 in our French list, against #4,147 for "exact". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

You've compared "état" and "exact". Here's where to go from here.

  • Full dictionary entry for "état" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "exact" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #431,833 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "état" and "exact" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "émit vs état". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list