étonnammentvsétonnementWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: étonnamment is a adverb, étonnement is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“étonnamment” is an adverb and “étonnement” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#16,789
“étonnamment” frequency rank
#16,044
“étonnement” frequency rank
32833
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature étonnamment étonnement
Definition D’une manière étonnante. Vive surprise.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set étonnamment and étonnement apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch
étonnamment
10 ch
étonnement

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étonnamment is \e.tɔ.na.mɑ̃\ while étonnement is \e.tɔn.mɑ̃\. 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 (adverb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32833, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

étonnamment is recorded at frequency rank #16,789, classified as anadv, pronounced \e.tɔ.na.mɑ̃\. étonnement is at rank #16,044, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.tɔn.mɑ̃\.

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 32833, this pair ranks #294,644 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of étonnamment vs étonnement

Shared letters: emnoté. Private to "étonnamment": a. Private to "étonnement": -.

"étonnamment" · 11 letters · shape VCVCCVCCVCC  ·  "étonnement" · 10 letters · shape VCVCCVCVCC

Frequency comparison

étonnamment#16,789
étonnement#16,044

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "étonnamment" and "étonnement" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "étonnamment" is an adverb and "étonnement" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "étonnamment" or "étonnement"?
"étonnement" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,044 in our French list, against #16,789 for "étonnamment". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering étonnamment vs étonnement

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list