Which to use
“étendre” is a verb and “étendu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,515
- “étendre” frequency rank
- #7,775
- “étendu” frequency rank
- 13290
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étendre | étendu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Faire qu’une chose acquière plus de surface ou plus de volume, soit en la rendant plus mince, soit en la tirant ou en la dilatant. | Grand, large, vaste. |
Where the eye mixes étendre and étendu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étendre is \e.tɑ̃dʁ\ while étendu is \e.tɑ̃.dy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13290, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
étendre is recorded at frequency rank #5,515, classified as averb, pronounced \e.tɑ̃dʁ\. étendu is at rank #7,775, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.tɑ̃.dy\.
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 13290, this pair ranks #401,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of étendre vs étendu
Shared letters: denté. Private to "étendre": r. Private to "étendu": u.
"étendre" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCCV · "étendu" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV