êtesvseueTell them apart

Which to use

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

#362
“êtes” frequency rank
#12,376
“eue” frequency rank
12738
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature êtes eue
Definition Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de être. Participe passé féminin singulier de avoir.

Where the eye mixes êtes and eue

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence.

4 ch
êtes
3 ch
eue

Visual trap between êtes and eue

A purely visual mix-up. êtes (\ɛt\) and eue (\y\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12738, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

êtes is recorded at frequency rank #362, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛt\. eue is at rank #12,376, tagged as averb, pronounced \y\.

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 12738, this pair ranks #403,969 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of êtes vs eue

Shared letters: e. Private to "êtes": stê. Private to "eue": u.

"êtes" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "eue" · 3 letters · shape VVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "êtes" for "eue" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɛt\ versus \y\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "êtes" vs "eue" - which ranks higher?
"êtes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #362 in our French list, against #12,376 for "eue". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "êtes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "eue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #403,969 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "êtes" and "eue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "EPO vs eue". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #403,969 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