Which to use
“colonies” and “colons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,644
- “colonies” frequency rank
- #8,675
- “colons” frequency rank
- 14319
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | colonies | colons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de colonie. | Pluriel de colon. |
Where the eye mixes colonies and colons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses colonies with colons
A purely visual mix-up. colonies (\kɔ.lɔ.ni\) and colons (\kɔ.lɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14319, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
colonies is recorded at frequency rank #5,644, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.lɔ.ni\. colons is at rank #8,675, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.lɔ̃\.
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 14319, this pair ranks #397,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of colonies vs colons
Shared letters: clnos. Private to "colonies": ei. Private to "colons": -.
"colonies" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "colons" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "colonies" for "colons" ever safe?
Which is more common, "colonies" or "colons"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "colonies" and "colons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "colonies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "colons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #397,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "colonies" and "colons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "colons vs coon". 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 #397,210 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.