Which to use
“étendre” is a verb and “étendue” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,515
- “étendre” frequency rank
- #5,207
- “étendue” frequency rank
- 10722
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étendre | étendue |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Dimension d’une chose en longueur, largeur et profondeur. |
Where the eye mixes étendre and étendue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between étendre and étendue
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étendre is \e.tɑ̃dʁ\ while étendue is \e.tɑ̃.dy\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “étendre” becomes u in “étendue”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10722, 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\. étendue is at rank #5,207, tagged as anoun, 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 10722, this pair ranks #411,887 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of étendre vs étendue
Shared letters: denté. Private to "étendre": r. Private to "étendue": u.
"étendre" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCCV · "étendue" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "étendre" and "étendue" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "étendre" or "étendue" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "étendre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étendue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #411,887 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "étendre" and "étendue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éteindra vs étendre". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #411,887 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.