Which to use
“combe” and “combes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #32,749
- “combe” frequency rank
- #29,288
- “combes” frequency rank
- 62037
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | combe | combes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petite vallée, pli de terrain, lieu bas entouré de collines. | Pluriel de combe. |
Same sound, different letters: combe vs combes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. combe runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against combes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - combe and combes
This is the hard kind. combe and combes are pronounced identically (\kɔ̃b\) 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) - “combe” sits inside “combes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62037, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
combe is recorded at frequency rank #32,749, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃b\. combes is at rank #29,288, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃b\.
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 62037, this pair ranks #89,180 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of combe vs combes
Shared letters: bcemo. Private to "combe": -. Private to "combes": s.
"combe" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "combes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "combe" and "combes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "combe" vs "combes" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "combe" / "combes". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "combe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "combes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #89,180 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "combe" and "combes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "combe vs conde". 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 #89,180 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.