Which to use
“etc” is an adverb and “êtes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #416
- “etc” frequency rank
- #362
- “êtes” frequency rank
- 778
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | etc | êtes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante orthographique de etc. | Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de être. |
Where the eye mixes etc and êtes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.
Visual trap between etc and êtes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: etc is \ɛt.se.te.ʁa\ while êtes is \ɛt\. 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 (adverb vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 778, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
etc is recorded at frequency rank #416, classified as anadv, pronounced \ɛt.se.te.ʁa\. êtes is at rank #362, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛt\.
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 778, this pair ranks #439,127 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of etc vs êtes
Shared letters: et. Private to "etc": c. Private to "êtes": sê.
"etc" · 3 letters · shape VCC · "êtes" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "etc" for "êtes" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "etc" or "êtes" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "etc" and "êtes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "etc" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "êtes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,127 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "etc" and "êtes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "EPO vs etc". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #439,127 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.