comparablevscomparablesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“comparable” and “comparables” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,691
“comparable” frequency rank
#11,736
“comparables” frequency rank
18427
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature comparable comparables
Definition Qui peut être comparé avec quelqu’un ou avec quelque chose pour leur ressemblance. Pluriel de comparable.

Same sound, different letters: comparable vs comparables

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters.

10 ch
comparable
11 ch
comparables

Same sound, different spelling - comparable / comparables

This is the hard kind. comparable and comparables are pronounced identically (\kɔ̃.pa.ʁabl\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “comparable” sits inside “comparables”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18427, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

comparable is recorded at frequency rank #6,691, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.pa.ʁabl\. comparables is at rank #11,736, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ̃.pa.ʁabl\.

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 18427, this pair ranks #378,378 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of comparable vs comparables

Shared letters: abcelmopr. Private to "comparable": -. Private to "comparables": s.

"comparable" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCV  ·  "comparables" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • comparableccomparable · cmoparable · comaprable · commparable · compaarble · comparabble · comparabel · comparablle
  • comparablesccomparables · cmoparables · comaprables · commparables · compaarbles · comparabbles · comparabels · comparabless

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "comparable" for "comparables" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\kɔ̃.pa.ʁabl\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary French text, does "comparable" or "comparables" show up more?
"comparable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,691 in our French list, against #11,736 for "comparables". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "comparable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "comparables" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #378,378 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "comparable" and "comparables" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comparables vs compatibles". 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 #378,378 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