Which to use
“cruelle” is a noun and “cruelles” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,240
- “cruelle” frequency rank
- #34,486
- “cruelles” frequency rank
- 48726
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cruelle | cruelles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Femme qui repousse les avances de son soupirant. | Féminin pluriel de cruel. |
Same sound, different letters: cruelle vs cruelles
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. cruelle runs 7 letters (CCVVCCV) against cruelles's 8 (CCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: cruelle vs cruelles
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: cruelle and cruelles carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kʁy.ɛl\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “cruelle” sits inside “cruelles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48726, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cruelle is recorded at frequency rank #14,240, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁy.ɛl\. cruelles is at rank #34,486, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kʁy.ɛl\.
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 48726, this pair ranks #176,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cruelle vs cruelles
Shared letters: celru. Private to "cruelle": -. Private to "cruelles": s.
"cruelle" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV · "cruelles" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "cruelle" for "cruelles" ever safe?
Frequency check: "cruelle" vs "cruelles" - which ranks higher?
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 "cruelle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cruelles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #176,514 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cruelle" and "cruelles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Chelles vs cruelles". 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 #176,514 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.