coupablevscoupablesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#2,767
“coupable” frequency rank
#7,169
“coupables” frequency rank
9936
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coupable coupables
Definition Qui a commis une faute, un crime, en parlant d’une personne. Pluriel de coupable.

Same sound, different letters: coupable vs coupables

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters.

8 ch
coupable
9 ch
coupables

Ear matches; page differs - coupable and coupables

This is the hard kind. coupable and coupables are pronounced identically (\ku.pabl\) 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) - “coupable” sits inside “coupables”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9936, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coupable is recorded at frequency rank #2,767, classified as anadj, pronounced \ku.pabl\. coupables is at rank #7,169, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ku.pabl\.

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 9936, this pair ranks #414,867 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coupable vs coupables

Shared letters: abcelopu. Private to "coupable": -. Private to "coupables": s.

"coupable" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVCCV  ·  "coupables" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coupableccoupable · copuable · couapble · coupabble · coupabel · coupablle · coupalbe · coupbale
  • coupablesccoupables · copuables · couapbles · coupabbles · coupabels · coupabless · coupablles · coupablse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "coupable" and "coupables" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ku.pabl\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "coupable" vs "coupables" - which ranks higher?
"coupable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,767 in our French list, against #7,169 for "coupables". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "coupable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coupables" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #414,867 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coupable" and "coupables" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coupables vs coupoles". 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 #414,867 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