amplevsamplesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“ample” and “amples” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,613
“ample” frequency rank
#20,042
“amples” frequency rank
37655
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ample amples
Definition Qui dépasse en largeur et en longueur la mesure ordinaire. Pluriel de ample.

Same sound, different letters: ample vs amples

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.

5 ch
ample
6 ch
amples

Ear matches; page differs - ample and amples

This is the hard kind. ample and amples are pronounced identically (\ɑ̃pl\) 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) - “ample” sits inside “amples”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37655, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ample is recorded at frequency rank #17,613, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃pl\. amples is at rank #20,042, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃pl\.

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 37655, this pair ranks #260,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ample vs amples

Shared letters: aelmp. Private to "ample": -. Private to "amples": s.

"ample" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV  ·  "amples" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ampleamlpe · ammple · ampel · amplle · ampple · apmle
  • amplesamlpes · ammples · ampels · ampless · amplles · amplse · ampples · apmles

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "ample" and "amples" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɑ̃pl\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "ample" or "amples"?
"ample" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,613 in our French list, against #20,042 for "amples". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"ample" and "amples" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ample" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "amples" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #260,923 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ample" and "amples" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "amples vs anales". 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 #260,923 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list