éteinsvséteintConfusable pair

Quick tell: éteins is a verb, éteint is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“éteins” is a verb and “éteint” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#29,615
“éteins” frequency rank
#6,153
“éteint” frequency rank
35768
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature éteins éteint
Definition Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de éteindre. Qui ne se consume plus, en parlant d’un feu.

Same sound, different letters: éteins vs éteint

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. éteins and éteint follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

6 ch
éteins
6 ch
éteint

Homophone desk: éteins vs éteint

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: éteins and éteint carry the same recorded pronunciation, \e.tɛ̃\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - s in “éteins” becomes t in “éteint”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35768, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

éteins is recorded at frequency rank #29,615, classified as averb, pronounced \e.tɛ̃\. éteint is at rank #6,153, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.tɛ̃\.

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 35768, this pair ranks #274,379 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of éteins vs éteint

Shared letters: einté. Private to "éteins": s. Private to "éteint": -.

"éteins" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCC  ·  "éteint" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "éteins" for "éteint" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "éteins" is a verb and "éteint" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "éteins" or "éteint"?
"éteint" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,153 in our French list, against #29,615 for "éteins". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "éteins" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "éteint" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #274,379 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "éteins" and "éteint" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éteins vs étuis". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #274,379 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