Which to use
“adéquate” and “adéquates” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,792
- “adéquate” frequency rank
- #28,043
- “adéquates” frequency rank
- 43835
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | adéquate | adéquates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de adéquat. | Féminin pluriel de adéquat. |
Same sound, different letters: adéquate vs adéquates
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. adéquate runs 8 letters (VCVCVVCV) against adéquates's 9 (VCVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - adéquate and adéquates
This is the hard kind. adéquate and adéquates are pronounced identically (\a.de.kwat\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “adéquate” sits inside “adéquates”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43835, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
adéquate is recorded at frequency rank #15,792, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.de.kwat\. adéquates is at rank #28,043, tagged as anadj, pronounced \a.de.kwat\.
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 43835, this pair ranks #215,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of adéquate vs adéquates
Shared letters: adeqtué. Private to "adéquate": -. Private to "adéquates": s.
"adéquate" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVVCV · "adéquates" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "adéquate" and "adéquates" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "adéquate" vs "adéquates" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "adéquate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "adéquates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "adéquate" and "adéquates" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "adéquates vs adéquats". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #215,024 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.