étonnéevsétonnezWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#17,603
“étonnée” frequency rank
#41,614
“étonnez” frequency rank
59217
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature étonnée étonnez
Definition Féminin singulier de étonné. Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de étonner.

Where the spellings diverge

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

7 ch
étonnée
7 ch
étonnez

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: étonnée and étonnez 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 59217, 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\. étonnez is at rank #41,614, 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 59217, this pair ranks #104,406 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of étonnée vs étonnez

Shared letters: enoté. Private to "étonnée": -. Private to "étonnez": z.

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

Frequency comparison

étonnée#17,603
étonnez#41,614

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "étonnée" and "étonnez" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "étonnée" is an adjective and "étonnez" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "étonnée" or "étonnez"?
"étonnée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,603 in our French list, against #41,614 for "étonnez". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering étonnée vs étonnez

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 “étonnez”.
  • 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