êtes vs excès, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“êtes” is a verb and “excès” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#362
“êtes” frequency rank: #4,668
“excès” frequency rank: 5030
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	êtes	excès
Definition	Deuxième personne du pluriel de l’indicatif présent de être.	Ce qui est en trop.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set êtes and excès apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch

êtes

5 ch

excès

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: êtes is \ɛt\ while excès is \ɛk.sɛ\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5030, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

êtes is recorded at frequency rank #362, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛt\. excès is at rank #4,668, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛk.sɛ\.

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 5030, this pair ranks #430,092 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of êtes vs excès

Shared letters: es. Private to "êtes": tê. Private to "excès": cxè.

"êtes" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "excès" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC

Frequency comparison

êtes#362

excès#4,668

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "êtes" and "excès" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "êtes" is a verb and "excès" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "êtes" or "excès"?

"êtes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #362 in our French list, against #4,668 for "excès". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering êtes vs excès

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need a verb, it's “êtes”; for a noun, it's “excès”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “êtes” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable