éteintesvsétreinteWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: éteintes is a adjective, étreinte is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“éteintes” is an adjective and “étreinte” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#28,421
“éteintes” frequency rank
#27,672
“étreinte” frequency rank
56093
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature éteintes étreinte
Definition Féminin pluriel de éteint. Action ou manière de presser entre ses bras et/ou ses mains.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set éteintes and étreinte apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch
éteintes
8 ch
étreinte

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: éteintes is \e.tɛ̃t\ while étreinte is \e.tʁɛ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 6 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56093, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

éteintes is recorded at frequency rank #28,421, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.tɛ̃t\. étreinte is at rank #27,672, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.tʁɛ̃t\.

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 56093, this pair ranks #123,305 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of éteintes vs étreinte

Shared letters: einté. Private to "éteintes": s. Private to "étreinte": r.

"éteintes" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVC  ·  "étreinte" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCCV

Frequency comparison

éteintes#28,421
étreinte#27,672

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "éteintes" and "étreinte" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "éteintes" is an adjective and "étreinte" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "éteintes" or "étreinte"?
"étreinte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,672 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.

Remembering éteintes vs étreinte

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “éteintes”; for a noun, it's “étreinte”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “éteintes” 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