Which to use
“cruelle” is a noun and “cruels” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,240
- “cruelle” frequency rank
- #24,534
- “cruels” frequency rank
- 38774
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cruelle | cruels |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Femme qui repousse les avances de son soupirant. | Masculin pluriel de cruel. |
Same sound, different letters: cruelle vs cruels
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. cruelle runs 7 letters (CCVVCCV) against cruels's 6 (CCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: cruelle vs cruels
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: cruelle and cruels 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38774, 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\. cruels is at rank #24,534, 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 38774, this pair ranks #252,896 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cruelle vs cruels
Shared letters: celru. Private to "cruelle": -. Private to "cruels": s.
"cruelle" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV · "cruels" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "cruelle" and "cruels" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "cruelle" vs "cruels" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "cruelle" / "cruels". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "cruelle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cruels" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #252,896 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cruelle" and "cruels" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cruelles vs cruels". 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 #252,896 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.