Which to use
“opté” is a verb and “otite” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,748
- “opté” frequency rank
- #42,505
- “otite” frequency rank
- 57253
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | opté | otite |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin singulier de opter. | Inflammation de la peau ou de la muqueuse de l’oreille. |
Where the eye mixes opté and otite
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses opté with otite
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: opté is \ɔp.te\ while otite is \ɔ.tit\. 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 (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57253, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
opté is recorded at frequency rank #14,748, classified as averb, pronounced \ɔp.te\. otite is at rank #42,505, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.tit\.
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 57253, this pair ranks #116,145 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of opté vs otite
Shared letters: ot. Private to "opté": pé. Private to "otite": ei.
"opté" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "otite" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- otite ← oitte · otiet · otitte · ottie · ottite · toite
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "opté" for "otite" ever safe?
Which is more common, "opté" or "otite"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "opté" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "otite" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #116,145 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "opté" and "otite" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "otite vs ouate". 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 #116,145 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.