étonnervsétonneraTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,801
“étonner” frequency rank
#32,251
“étonnera” frequency rank
41052
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature étonner étonnera
Definition Ébranler à la manière du tonnerre. Troisième personne du singulier du futur de étonner.

Where the eye mixes étonner and étonnera

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. étonner runs 7 letters (VCVCCVC) against étonnera's 8 (VCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
étonner
8 ch
étonnera

Look-alike desk: étonner vs étonnera

A purely visual mix-up. étonner (\e.tɔ.ne\) and étonnera (\e.tɔ.nə.ʁa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “étonner” sits inside “étonnera”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 41052, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

étonner is recorded at frequency rank #8,801, classified as averb, pronounced \e.tɔ.ne\. étonnera is at rank #32,251, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.tɔ.nə.ʁa\.

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 41052, this pair ranks #235,896 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of étonner vs étonnera

Shared letters: enorté. Private to "étonner": -. Private to "étonnera": a.

"étonner" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC  ·  "étonnera" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "étonner" and "étonnera" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\e.tɔ.ne\ versus \e.tɔ.nə.ʁa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "étonner" or "étonnera" show up more?
"étonner" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,801 in our French list, against #32,251 for "étonnera". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "étonner" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "étonnera" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #235,896 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "étonner" and "étonnera" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étonnera vs étonnez". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #235,896 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