Which to use
“avalanche” and “avalanches” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,859
- “avalanche” frequency rank
- #39,654
- “avalanches” frequency rank
- 54513
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | avalanche | avalanches |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masse considérable de neige qui se détache du sommet des hautes montagnes et s’écoule parfois jusque dans les vallées. Ce peut être aussi le mouvement de cette masse de neige. | Pluriel de avalanche. |
Same sound, different letters: avalanche vs avalanches
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. avalanche runs 9 letters (VCVCVCCCV) against avalanches's 10 (VCVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: avalanche vs avalanches
This is the hard kind. avalanche and avalanches are pronounced identically (\a.va.lɑ̃ʃ\) 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) - “avalanche” sits inside “avalanches”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54513, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
avalanche is recorded at frequency rank #14,859, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.va.lɑ̃ʃ\. avalanches is at rank #39,654, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.va.lɑ̃ʃ\.
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 54513, this pair ranks #133,493 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of avalanche vs avalanches
Shared letters: acehlnv. Private to "avalanche": -. Private to "avalanches": s.
"avalanche" · 9 letters · shape VCVCVCCCV · "avalanches" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- avalanche ← aavlanche · avaalnche · avalacnhe · avalancche · avalanceh · avalanchhe · avalanhce · avalannche
- avalanches ← aavlanches · avaalnches · avalacnhes · avalancches · avalancehs · avalanchess · avalanchhes · avalanchse
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "avalanche" and "avalanches" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "avalanche" or "avalanches"?
Useful next steps
"avalanche" and "avalanches" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "avalanche" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "avalanches" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #133,493 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "avalanche" and "avalanches" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "avalanches vs Avranches". 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 #133,493 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.