Which to use
“blaireau” and “blaireaux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #25,907
- “blaireau” frequency rank
- #35,399
- “blaireaux” frequency rank
- 61306
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | blaireau | blaireaux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Une des espèces de mammifères omnivores, bas sur pattes, au pelage noir, gris et blanchâtre, qui se creusent de profonds terriers. | Pluriel de blaireau. |
Same sound, different letters: blaireau vs blaireaux
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. blaireau runs 8 letters (CCVVCVVV) against blaireaux's 9 (CCVVCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - blaireau / blaireaux
This is the hard kind. blaireau and blaireaux are pronounced identically (\blɛ.ʁo\) 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) - “blaireau” sits inside “blaireaux”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61306, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
blaireau is recorded at frequency rank #25,907, classified as anoun, pronounced \blɛ.ʁo\. blaireaux is at rank #35,399, tagged as anoun, pronounced \blɛ.ʁo\.
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 61306, this pair ranks #92,969 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of blaireau vs blaireaux
Shared letters: abeilru. Private to "blaireau": -. Private to "blaireaux": x.
"blaireau" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVVV · "blaireaux" · 9 letters · shape CCVVCVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "blaireau" and "blaireaux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "blaireau" vs "blaireaux" - which ranks higher?
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 "blaireau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "blaireaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #92,969 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "blaireau" and "blaireaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "blaireau vs blairer". 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 #92,969 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.