capitulevscapitulerConfusable pair

Quick tell: capitule is a noun, capituler is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“capitule” is a noun and “capituler” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#46,630
“capitule” frequency rank
#38,189
“capituler” frequency rank
84819
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capitule capituler
Definition Inflorescence formée de fleurs sessiles serrées les unes contre les autres. Faire une capitulation.

Where the eye mixes capitule and capituler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
capitule
9 ch
capituler

Why the eye confuses capitule with capituler

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: capitule is \ka.pi.tyl\ while capituler is \ka.pi.ty.le\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “capitule” sits inside “capituler”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84819, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

capitule is recorded at frequency rank #46,630, classified as anoun, pronounced \ka.pi.tyl\. capituler is at rank #38,189, tagged as averb, pronounced \ka.pi.ty.le\.

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 84819, this pair ranks #12,324 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of capitule vs capituler

Shared letters: aceilptu. Private to "capitule": -. Private to "capituler": r.

"capitule" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "capituler" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capituleacpitule · caiptule · capitlue · capittule · capituel · capitulle · capiutle · cappitule
  • capituleracpituler · caiptuler · capitluer · capittuler · capituelr · capitulerr · capituller · capitulre

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "capitule" and "capituler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "capitule" is a noun and "capituler" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "capitule" or "capituler"?
"capituler" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #38,189 in our French list, against #46,630 for "capitule". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "capitule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "capituler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,324 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "capitule" and "capituler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "capitals vs capitule". 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 #12,324 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