étévsezWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: été is a noun, ez is a preposition, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#65
“été” frequency rank
#24,587
“ez” frequency rank
24652
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature été ez
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. Dans les ; en les.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set été and ez apart are highlighted. They share no common letter run, the confusion here is by sound, not by sight.

3 ch
été
2 ch
ez

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: été is anoun and ezapreposition. On the page they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24652, 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\. ez is at rank #24,587, tagged as aprep.

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 24652, this pair ranks #345,383 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of été vs ez

Shared letters: none. Private to "été": . Private to "ez": ez.

"été" · 3 letters · shape VCV  ·  "ez" · 2 letters · shape VC

Frequency comparison

été#65
ez#24,587

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "été" and "ez" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "été" is a noun and "ez" a preposition, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "été" or "ez"?
"été" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #65 in our French list, against #24,587 for "ez". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering été vs ez

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “été”; for a preposition, it's “ez”.
  • 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

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list