crêpevscrêpesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,798
“crêpe” frequency rank
#12,757
“crêpes” frequency rank
32555
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature crêpe crêpes
Definition Étoffe claire, légère et comme frisée, faite de laine fine ou de soie crue et gommée. Pluriel de crêpe, sorte d’étoffe.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set crêpe and crêpes apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
crêpe
6 ch
crêpes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. crêpe and crêpes are pronounced identically (\kʁɛp\) 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) - “crêpe” sits inside “crêpes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

crêpe is recorded at frequency rank #19,798, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛp\. crêpes is at rank #12,757, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kʁɛp\.

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 32555, this pair ranks #296,503 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of crêpe vs crêpes

Shared letters: ceprê. Private to "crêpe": -. Private to "crêpes": s.

"crêpe" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV  ·  "crêpes" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Frequency comparison

crêpe#19,798
crêpes#12,757

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "crêpe" and "crêpes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\kʁɛp\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "crêpe" or "crêpes"?
"crêpes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,757 in our French list, against #19,798 for "crêpe". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering crêpe vs crêpes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “crêpe” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list