Which to use
“abeille” and “abeilles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,098
- “abeille” frequency rank
- #7,923
- “abeilles” frequency rank
- 21021
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | abeille | abeilles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Abeille à miel ; insecte porte-aiguillon, social et domestiqué pour la fabrication du miel et de la cire d’abeille. | Pluriel de abeille. |
Same sound, different letters: abeille vs abeilles
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. abeille runs 7 letters (VCVVCCV) against abeilles's 8 (VCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: abeille vs abeilles
This is the hard kind. abeille and abeilles are pronounced identically (\a.bɛj\) and both work as anoun. 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) - “abeille” sits inside “abeilles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21021, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
abeille is recorded at frequency rank #13,098, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.bɛj\. abeilles is at rank #7,923, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.bɛj\.
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 21021, this pair ranks #365,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of abeille vs abeilles
Shared letters: abeil. Private to "abeille": -. Private to "abeilles": s.
"abeille" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCCV · "abeilles" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "abeille" and "abeilles" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "abeille" vs "abeilles" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "abeille" / "abeilles". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "abeille" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "abeilles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #365,263 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "abeille" and "abeilles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "abeille vs Axelle". 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 #365,263 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.