étonnantevsétonnantesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“étonnante” and “étonnantes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#10,980
“étonnante” frequency rank
#25,533
“étonnantes” frequency rank
36513
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature étonnante étonnantes
Definition Féminin singulier de étonnant. Féminin pluriel de étonnant.

Same sound, different letters: étonnante vs étonnantes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. étonnante runs 9 letters (VCVCCVCCV) against étonnantes's 10 (VCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
étonnante
10 ch
étonnantes

Ear matches; page differs - étonnante and étonnantes

This is the hard kind. étonnante and étonnantes are pronounced identically (\e.tɔ.nɑ̃t\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “étonnante” sits inside “étonnantes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36513, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

étonnante is recorded at frequency rank #10,980, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.tɔ.nɑ̃t\. étonnantes is at rank #25,533, 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 36513, this pair ranks #269,069 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of étonnante vs étonnantes

Shared letters: aenoté. Private to "étonnante": -. Private to "étonnantes": s.

"étonnante" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCV  ·  "étonnantes" · 10 letters · shape VCVCCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "étonnante" and "étonnantes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\e.tɔ.nɑ̃t\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "étonnante" vs "étonnantes" - which ranks higher?
"étonnante" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,980 in our French list, against #25,533 for "étonnantes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

"étonnante" and "étonnantes" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "étonnante" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "étonnantes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #269,069 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "étonnante" and "étonnantes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étonnantes vs étonnants". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #269,069 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list