Which to use
“allumette” and “allumettes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,639
- “allumette” frequency rank
- #22,764
- “allumettes” frequency rank
- 61403
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | allumette | allumettes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bâtonnet de bois ou de carton recouvert, à une extrémité, d’un produit inflammable. | Pluriel de allumette. |
Same sound, different letters: allumette vs allumettes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. allumette runs 9 letters (VCCVCVCCV) against allumettes's 10 (VCCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - allumette / allumettes
This is the hard kind. allumette and allumettes are pronounced identically (\a.ly.mɛt\) 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) - “allumette” sits inside “allumettes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61403, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
allumette is recorded at frequency rank #38,639, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ly.mɛt\. allumettes is at rank #22,764, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.ly.mɛt\.
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 61403, this pair ranks #92,498 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of allumette vs allumettes
Shared letters: aelmtu. Private to "allumette": -. Private to "allumettes": s.
"allumette" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV · "allumettes" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- allumette ← allmuette · alluemtte · allumete · allumetet · allummette · allumtete · alulmette · alumette
- allumettes ← allmuettes · alluemttes · allumetes · allumetets · allumettess · allumettse · allummettes · allumtetes
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "allumette" for "allumettes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "allumette" or "allumettes"?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "allumette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "allumettes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #92,498 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "allumette" and "allumettes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "allument vs allumette". 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 #92,498 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.