étonnantevsétonnentWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: étonnante is a adjective, étonnent is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“étonnante” is an adjective and “étonnent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,980
“étonnante” frequency rank
#26,590
“étonnent” frequency rank
37570
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature étonnante étonnent
Definition Féminin singulier de étonnant. Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de étonner.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set étonnante and étonnent apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
étonnante
8 ch
étonnent

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étonnante is \e.tɔ.nɑ̃t\ while étonnent is \e.tɔn\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37570, 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\. étonnent is at rank #26,590, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.tɔn\.

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 37570, this pair ranks #261,566 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of étonnante vs étonnent

Shared letters: enoté. Private to "étonnante": a. Private to "étonnent": -.

"étonnante" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCV  ·  "étonnent" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC

Frequency comparison

étonnante#10,980
étonnent#26,590

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "étonnante" and "étonnent" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "étonnante" is an adjective and "étonnent" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "étonnante" or "étonnent"?
"étonnante" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,980 in our French list, against #26,590 for "étonnent". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering étonnante vs étonnent

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “étonnante”; for a verb, it's “étonnent”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “étonnante” 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