étrangesvsétrangetéTell them apart

Quick tell: étranges is a adjective, étrangeté is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“étranges” is an adjective and “étrangeté” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,183
“étranges” frequency rank
#34,830
“étrangeté” frequency rank
43013
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature étranges étrangeté
Definition Pluriel de étrange. Caractère de ce qui est étrange.

Where the eye mixes étranges and étrangeté

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. étranges runs 8 letters (VCCVCCVC) against étrangeté's 9 (VCCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
étranges
9 ch
étrangeté

Look-alike desk: étranges vs étrangeté

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étranges is \e.tʁɑ̃ʒ\ while étrangeté is \e.tʁɑ̃ʒ.te\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43013, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

étranges is recorded at frequency rank #8,183, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.tʁɑ̃ʒ\. étrangeté is at rank #34,830, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.tʁɑ̃ʒ.te\.

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 43013, this pair ranks #221,261 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of étranges vs étrangeté

Shared letters: aegnrté. Private to "étranges": s. Private to "étrangeté": -.

"étranges" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "étrangeté" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "étranges" and "étrangeté" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "étranges" is an adjective and "étrangeté" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "étranges" or "étrangeté"?
"étranges" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,183 in our French list, against #34,830 for "étrangeté". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "étranges" and "étrangeté" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "étranges" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "étrangeté" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #221,261 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "étranges" and "étrangeté" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étrangeté vs étranglée". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #221,261 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