Which to use
“combustible” and “comestible” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,018
- “combustible” frequency rank
- #28,106
- “comestible” frequency rank
- 39124
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | combustible | comestible |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a la propriété de brûler. | Qui peut servir d’aliment à l’humain, que l’on peut consommer sans se blesser ni s’intoxiquer. |
Where the eye mixes combustible and comestible
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: combustible vs comestible
A purely visual mix-up. combustible (\kɔ̃.bys.tibl\) and comestible (\kɔ.mɛs.tibl\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39124, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
combustible is recorded at frequency rank #11,018, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.bys.tibl\. comestible is at rank #28,106, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.mɛs.tibl\.
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 39124, this pair ranks #250,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of combustible vs comestible
Shared letters: bceilmost. Private to "combustible": u. Private to "comestible": -.
"combustible" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCV · "comestible" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- combustible ← ccombustible · cmobustible · cobmustible · combbustible · combsutible · combusitble · combusstible · combustbile
- comestible ← ccomestible · cmoestible · coemstible · comesitble · comesstible · comestbile · comestibble · comestibel
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "combustible" and "comestible" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "combustible" or "comestible" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "combustible" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "comestible" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #250,331 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "combustible" and "comestible" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comestible vs comestibles". 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 #250,331 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.