crédiblesvscrédulesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,498
“crédibles” frequency rank
#43,871
“crédules” frequency rank
63369
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crédibles crédules
Definition Pluriel de crédible. Pluriel de crédule.

Where the eye mixes crédibles and crédules

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. crédibles runs 9 letters (CCVCVCCVC) against crédules's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
crédibles
8 ch
crédules

Look-alike desk: crédibles vs crédules

A purely visual mix-up. crédibles (\kʁe.dibl\) and crédules (\kʁe.dyl\) 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 63369, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crédibles is recorded at frequency rank #19,498, classified as anadj, pronounced \kʁe.dibl\. crédules is at rank #43,871, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kʁe.dyl\.

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 63369, this pair ranks #82,294 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of crédibles vs crédules

Shared letters: cdelrsé. Private to "crédibles": bi. Private to "crédules": u.

"crédibles" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "crédules" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "crédibles" and "crédules" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\kʁe.dibl\ versus \kʁe.dyl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "crédibles" vs "crédules" - which ranks higher?
"crédibles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,498 in our French list, against #43,871 for "crédules". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "crédibles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "crédules" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #82,294 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "crédibles" and "crédules" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "crapules vs crédules". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #82,294 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