été vs êtres, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“été” and “êtres” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#65
“été” frequency rank: #3,583
“êtres” frequency rank: 3648
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	été	êtres
Definition	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.	Répartition des diverses parties d’une maison, c’est-à-dire l’escalier, les corridors, les pièces, etc. S’emploie surtout dans ces phrases :

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set été and êtres apart are highlighted. They share 1 letter in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch

été

5 ch

êtres

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. été (\e.te\) and êtres (\ɛtʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3648, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

été is recorded at frequency rank #65, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.te\. êtres is at rank #3,583, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛtʁ\.

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 3648, this pair ranks #433,526 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of été vs êtres

Shared letters: t. Private to "été": é. Private to "êtres": ersê.

"été" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "êtres" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Frequency comparison

été#65

êtres#3,583

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

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

No. They are said differently (\e.te\ versus \ɛtʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

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

"été" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #65 in our French list, against #3,583 for "êtres". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering été vs êtres

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “été” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable