cortègesvscorvéesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#36,335
“cortèges” frequency rank
#28,897
“corvées” frequency rank
65232
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cortèges corvées
Definition Pluriel de cortège. Pluriel de corvée.

Where the eye mixes cortèges and corvées

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. cortèges runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against corvées's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
cortèges
7 ch
corvées

Why the eye confuses cortèges with corvées

A purely visual mix-up. cortèges (\kɔʁ.tɛʒ\) and corvées (\kɔʁ.ve\) 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 65232, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cortèges is recorded at frequency rank #36,335, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.tɛʒ\. corvées is at rank #28,897, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.ve\.

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 65232, this pair ranks #73,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of cortèges vs corvées

Shared letters: ceors. Private to "cortèges": gtè. Private to "corvées": vé.

"cortèges" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "corvées" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "cortèges" for "corvées" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kɔʁ.tɛʒ\ versus \kɔʁ.ve\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "cortèges" or "corvées" show up more?
"corvées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #28,897 in our French list, against #36,335 for "cortèges". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cortèges" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "corvées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #73,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cortèges" and "corvées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "convers vs corvées". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #73,250 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