corvéevscorvetteWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#21,583
“corvée” frequency rank
#27,756
“corvette” frequency rank
49339
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature corvée corvette
Definition Travail et service gratuit qui était dû par le paysan à son seigneur. Bâtiment de guerre intermédiaire entre la frégate et le brick.

Where the eye mixes corvée and corvette

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

6 ch
corvée
8 ch
corvette

Why the eye confuses corvée with corvette

A purely visual mix-up. corvée (\kɔʁ.ve\) and corvette (\kɔʁ.vɛt\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49339, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

corvée is recorded at frequency rank #21,583, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.ve\. corvette is at rank #27,756, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔʁ.vɛt\.

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 49339, this pair ranks #171,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of corvée vs corvette

Shared letters: ceorv. Private to "corvée": é. Private to "corvette": t.

"corvée" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV  ·  "corvette" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • corvetteccorvette · corevtte · corrvette · corvete · corvetet · corvtete · corvvette · covrette

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "corvée" and "corvette" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\kɔʁ.ve\ versus \kɔʁ.vɛt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "corvée" or "corvette" show up more?
"corvée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,583 in our French list, against #27,756 for "corvette". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "corvée" and "corvette" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "corvée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "corvette" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #171,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "corvée" and "corvette" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "corvette vs Cosette". 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 #171,514 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