corbeauvscorbeauxConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#16,329
“corbeau” frequency rank
#21,895
“corbeaux” frequency rank
38224
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corbeau corbeaux
Definition Nom vernaculaire du grand corbeau (Corvus corax), gros oiseau passereau carnassier à plumage noir et au bec fort et noir. Pluriel de corbeau.

Same sound, different letters: corbeau vs corbeaux

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. corbeau runs 7 letters (CVCCVVV) against corbeaux's 8 (CVCCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
corbeau
8 ch
corbeaux

Homophone desk: corbeau vs corbeaux

This is the hard kind. corbeau and corbeaux are pronounced identically (\kɔʁ.bo\) 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) - “corbeau” sits inside “corbeaux”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38224, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

corbeau is recorded at frequency rank #16,329, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.bo\. corbeaux is at rank #21,895, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.bo\.

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 38224, this pair ranks #256,787 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of corbeau vs corbeaux

Shared letters: abceoru. Private to "corbeau": -. Private to "corbeaux": x.

"corbeau" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV  ·  "corbeaux" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • corbeauccorbeau · cobreau · corbaeu · corbbeau · corbeua · corebau · corrbeau · crobeau
  • corbeauxccorbeaux · cobreaux · corbaeux · corbbeaux · corbeauxx · corbeaxu · corbeuax · corebaux

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "corbeau" and "corbeaux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\kɔʁ.bo\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "corbeau" vs "corbeaux" - which ranks higher?
"corbeau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,329 in our French list, against #21,895 for "corbeaux". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

"corbeau" and "corbeaux" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "corbeau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "corbeaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #256,787 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "corbeau" and "corbeaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cerceau vs corbeau". 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 #256,787 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