étonnéevsétonnerWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#17,603
“étonnée” frequency rank
#8,801
“étonner” frequency rank
26404
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature étonnée étonner
Definition Féminin singulier de étonné. Ébranler à la manière du tonnerre.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set étonnée and étonner apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
étonnée
7 ch
étonner

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: étonnée and étonner carry the same recorded pronunciation, \e.tɔ.ne\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

étonnée is recorded at frequency rank #17,603, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.tɔ.ne\. étonner is at rank #8,801, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.tɔ.ne\.

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 26404, this pair ranks #335,212 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of étonnée vs étonner

Shared letters: enoté. Private to "étonnée": -. Private to "étonner": r.

"étonnée" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVV  ·  "étonner" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC

Frequency comparison

étonnée#17,603
étonner#8,801

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "étonnée" and "étonner" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "étonnée" is an adjective and "étonner" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "étonnée" or "étonner"?
"étonner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,801 in our French list, against #17,603 for "étonnée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering étonnée vs étonner

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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