Which to use
“désastre” and “désastres” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,101
- “désastre” frequency rank
- #27,791
- “désastres” frequency rank
- 35892
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désastre | désastres |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Événement funeste ; grand malheur ; les effets qui en résultent. | Pluriel de désastre. |
Same sound, different letters: désastre vs désastres
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. désastre runs 8 letters (CVCVCCCV) against désastres's 9 (CVCVCCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - désastre / désastres
This is the hard kind. désastre and désastres are pronounced identically (\de.zastʁ\) 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) - “désastre” sits inside “désastres”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35892, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
désastre is recorded at frequency rank #8,101, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.zastʁ\. désastres is at rank #27,791, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.zastʁ\.
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 35892, this pair ranks #273,474 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of désastre vs désastres
Shared letters: adersté. Private to "désastre": -. Private to "désastres": -.
"désastre" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCCV · "désastres" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "désastre" and "désastres" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "désastre" or "désastres"?
After this comparison
"désastre" and "désastres" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "désastre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "désastres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #273,474 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désastre" and "désastres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désastres vs dévastées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #273,474 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.