étroitevsétroitesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#7,266
“étroite” frequency rank
#14,586
“étroites” frequency rank
21852
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature étroite étroites
Definition Féminin singulier de étroit. Féminin pluriel de étroit.

Same sound, different letters: étroite vs étroites

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. étroite runs 7 letters (VCCVVCV) against étroites's 8 (VCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
étroite
8 ch
étroites

Ear matches; page differs - étroite and étroites

This is the hard kind. étroite and étroites are pronounced identically (\e.tʁwat\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “étroite” sits inside “étroites”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21852, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

étroite is recorded at frequency rank #7,266, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.tʁwat\. étroites is at rank #14,586, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.tʁwat\.

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 21852, this pair ranks #361,099 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of étroite vs étroites

Shared letters: eiorté. Private to "étroite": -. Private to "étroites": s.

"étroite" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV  ·  "étroites" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "étroite" and "étroites" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\e.tʁwat\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "étroite" or "étroites"?
"étroite" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,266 in our French list, against #14,586 for "étroites". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

"étroite" and "étroites" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "étroite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "étroites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #361,099 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "étroite" and "étroites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "étroites vs étroitesse". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #361,099 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