Which to use
“étirer” is a verb and “etre” is a preposition - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,030
- “étirer” frequency rank
- #1,412
- “etre” frequency rank
- 29442
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étirer | etre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Étendre, allonger. | Entre. |
Where the eye mixes étirer and etre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. étirer runs 6 letters (VCVCVC) against etre's 4 (VCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: étirer vs etre
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étirer is \e.ti.ʁe\ while etre is \e.ˈtreː\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs preposition), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29442, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
étirer is recorded at frequency rank #28,030, classified as averb, pronounced \e.ti.ʁe\. etre is at rank #1,412, tagged as aprep, pronounced \e.ˈtreː\.
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 29442, this pair ranks #316,646 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of étirer vs etre
Shared letters: ert. Private to "étirer": ié. Private to "etre": -.
"étirer" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC · "etre" · 4 letters · shape VCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- etre ← erte · eter · ettre
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "étirer" and "etre" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "étirer" vs "etre" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "étirer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "etre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #316,646 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "étirer" and "etre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épier vs étirer". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #316,646 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.