Which to use
“abcès” and “aces” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,675
- “abcès” frequency rank
- #43,246
- “aces” frequency rank
- 70921
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abcès | aces |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Poche de pus dans une cavité formée aux dépens des tissus environnants. | Pluriel de ace. |
Where the eye mixes abcès and aces
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. abcès runs 5 letters (VCCVC) against aces's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses abcès with aces
A purely visual mix-up. abcès (\ap.sɛ\) and aces (\ɛs\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70921, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abcès is recorded at frequency rank #27,675, classified as anoun, pronounced \ap.sɛ\. aces is at rank #43,246, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛs\.
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 70921, this pair ranks #49,476 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of abcès vs aces
Shared letters: acs. Private to "abcès": bè. Private to "aces": e.
"abcès" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "aces" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- aces ← aecs
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "abcès" and "aces" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "abcès" or "aces"?
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 "abcès" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "aces" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,476 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abcès" and "aces" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aces vs aves". 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 #49,476 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.