éteintvséteintesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,153
“éteint” frequency rank
#28,421
“éteintes” frequency rank
34574
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature éteint éteintes
Definition Qui ne se consume plus, en parlant d’un feu. Féminin pluriel de éteint.

Where the eye mixes éteint and éteintes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. éteint runs 6 letters (VCVVCC) against éteintes's 8 (VCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
éteint
8 ch
éteintes

Look-alike desk: éteint vs éteintes

A purely visual mix-up. éteint (\e.tɛ̃\) and éteintes (\e.tɛ̃t\) 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 extra letter(s) - “éteint” sits inside “éteintes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34574, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

éteint is recorded at frequency rank #6,153, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.tɛ̃\. éteintes is at rank #28,421, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.tɛ̃t\.

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 34574, this pair ranks #282,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of éteint vs éteintes

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

"éteint" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCC  ·  "éteintes" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "éteint" and "éteintes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.tɛ̃\ versus \e.tɛ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "éteint" or "éteintes" show up more?
"éteint" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,153 in our French list, against #28,421 for "éteintes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "éteint" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "éteintes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #282,837 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "éteint" and "éteintes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éteins vs éteintes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #282,837 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