exposévsextaseTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#4,488
“exposé” frequency rank
#20,443
“extase” frequency rank
24931
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature exposé extase
Definition Qui a été exposé, dans un musée, par exemple. Ravissement d’esprit qui, par une contemplation intense, transporte un être hors de la vie des sens.

Where the eye mixes exposé and extase

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

6 ch
exposé
6 ch
extase

Why the eye confuses exposé with extase

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: exposé is \ɛk.spo.ze\ while extase is \ɛk.stɑz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24931, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

exposé is recorded at frequency rank #4,488, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛk.spo.ze\. extase is at rank #20,443, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛk.stɑz\.

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 24931, this pair ranks #343,747 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of exposé vs extase

Shared letters: esx. Private to "exposé": opé. Private to "extase": at.

"exposé" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "extase" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • extaseetxase · exatse · extaes · extasse · extsae · exttase · exxtase · xetase

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "exposé" and "extase" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "exposé" is an adjective and "extase" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "exposé" or "extase"?
"exposé" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,488 in our French list, against #20,443 for "extase". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "exposé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "extase" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #343,747 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "exposé" and "extase" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "estate vs extase". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #343,747 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