Which to use
“cirques” and “conques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,746
- “cirques” frequency rank
- #44,390
- “conques” frequency rank
- 77136
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cirques | conques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de cirque. | Pluriel de conque. |
Where the eye mixes cirques and conques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between cirques and conques
A purely visual mix-up. cirques (\siʁk\) and conques (\kɔ̃k\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77136, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cirques is recorded at frequency rank #32,746, classified as anoun, pronounced \siʁk\. conques is at rank #44,390, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃k\.
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 77136, this pair ranks #29,221 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of cirques vs conques
Shared letters: ceqsu. Private to "cirques": ir. Private to "conques": no.
"cirques" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "conques" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cirques" and "conques" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "cirques" or "conques"?
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 "cirques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "conques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #29,221 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cirques" and "conques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "congres vs conques". 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 #29,221 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.