Which to use
“capable” and “capables” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,222
- “capable” frequency rank
- #3,443
- “capables” frequency rank
- 4665
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | capable | capables |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est en état de faire une chose ; qui a la capacité. | Pluriel de capable. |
Same sound, different letters: capable vs capables
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - capable and capables
This is the hard kind. capable and capables are pronounced identically (\ka.pabl\) 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) - “capable” sits inside “capables”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4665, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
capable is recorded at frequency rank #1,222, classified as anadj, pronounced \ka.pabl\. capables is at rank #3,443, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ka.pabl\.
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 4665, this pair ranks #431,013 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of capable vs capables
Shared letters: abcelp. Private to "capable": -. Private to "capables": s.
"capable" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV · "capables" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "capable" and "capables" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "capable" vs "capables" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "capable" / "capables". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "capable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "capables" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #431,013 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "capable" and "capables" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Calabre vs capable". 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 #431,013 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.