Which to use
“étonnant” and “étonnante” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,728
- “étonnant” frequency rank
- #10,980
- “étonnante” frequency rank
- 14708
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étonnant | étonnante |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui étonne, qui surprend. | Féminin singulier de étonnant. |
Letter map: étonnant vs étonnante
Shared letters muted; letters that set étonnant and étonnante apart highlighted. Shared run: 8. étonnant runs 8 letters (VCVCCVCC) against étonnante's 9 (VCVCCVCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Corpus notes: étonnant and étonnante
étonnant and étonnante are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “étonnant” sits inside “étonnante”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14708, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
étonnant is recorded at frequency rank #3,728, classified as anadj. étonnante is at rank #10,980, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.tɔ.nɑ̃t\.
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 14708, this pair ranks #395,532 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of étonnant vs étonnante
Shared letters: anoté. Private to "étonnant": -. Private to "étonnante": e.
"étonnant" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC · "étonnante" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "étonnant" and "étonnante" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "étonnant" or "étonnante" show up more?
After this comparison
Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "étonnant" and "étonnante".
- Full dictionary entry for "étonnant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étonnante" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #395,532 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "étonnant" and "étonnante" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étonnante vs étonnants". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #395,532 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.