Which to use
“albe” and “algue” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #44,849
- “albe” frequency rank
- #31,338
- “algue” frequency rank
- 76187
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | albe | algue |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ablette. | Végétal aquatique poussant sous l’eau (par opposition aux nénufars) pouvant appartenir à des groupes phylogénétiques très différents (polyphylétique) et capables de photosynthèse, donc autotrophes. |
Where the eye mixes albe and algue
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. albe runs 4 letters (VCCV) against algue's 5 (VCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between albe and algue
A purely visual mix-up. albe (\alb\) and algue (\alɡ\) 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 76187, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
albe is recorded at frequency rank #44,849, classified as anoun, pronounced \alb\. algue is at rank #31,338, tagged as anoun, pronounced \alɡ\.
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 76187, this pair ranks #31,849 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of albe vs algue
Shared letters: ael. Private to "albe": b. Private to "algue": gu.
"albe" · 4 letters · shape VCCV · "algue" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "albe" for "algue" ever safe?
Frequency check: "albe" vs "algue" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "albe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "algue" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #31,849 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "albe" and "algue" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "albe vs Aure". 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 #31,849 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.