Which to use
“étire” is a noun and “étirer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #26,236
- “étire” frequency rank
- #28,030
- “étirer” frequency rank
- 54266
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étire | étirer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | lame métallique (anciennement en pierre) montée sur un manche sur le côté le plus long et qui servait à pratiquer le butage. | Étendre, allonger. |
Where the eye mixes étire and étirer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. étire runs 5 letters (VCVCV) against étirer's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between étire and étirer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étire is \e.tiʁ\ while étirer is \e.ti.ʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “étire” sits inside “étirer”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54266, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
étire is recorded at frequency rank #26,236, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.tiʁ\. étirer is at rank #28,030, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.ti.ʁe\.
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 54266, this pair ranks #135,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of étire vs étirer
Shared letters: eirté. Private to "étire": -. Private to "étirer": -.
"étire" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "étirer" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "étire" and "étirer" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "étire" vs "étirer" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "étire" and "étirer" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "étire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étirer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #135,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "étire" and "étirer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épier vs étirer". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #135,182 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.