Which to use
“Adèle” is a name and “adult” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,512
- “Adèle” frequency rank
- #37,152
- “adult” frequency rank
- 49664
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Adèle | adult |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Prénom féminin français. | Adulte. |
Where the eye mixes Adèle and adult
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. Adèle (VCVCV) and adult (VCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: Adèle vs adult
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Adèle is \a.dɛl\ while adult is \aˈdʊlt\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49664, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Adèle is recorded at frequency rank #12,512, classified as aname, pronounced \a.dɛl\. adult is at rank #37,152, tagged as anadj, pronounced \aˈdʊlt\.
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 49664, this pair ranks #168,824 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Adèle vs adult
Shared letters: adl. Private to "Adèle": eè. Private to "adult": tu.
"Adèle" · 5 letters · shape VCVCV · "adult" · 5 letters · shape VCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- adult ← addult · adlut · adullt · adultt · adutl · audlt · dault
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Adèle" and "adult" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "Adèle" or "adult"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Adèle" and "adult" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Adèle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "adult" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #168,824 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Adèle" and "adult" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "adulé vs adult". 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 #168,824 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.