Which to use
“duchés” and “duchesse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #39,757
- “duchés” frequency rank
- #8,230
- “duchesse” frequency rank
- 47987
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | duchés | duchesse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de duché. | Épouse d’un duc. |
Where the eye mixes duchés and duchesse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: duchés vs duchesse
A purely visual mix-up. duchés (\dy.ʃe\) and duchesse (\dy.ʃɛs\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47987, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
duchés is recorded at frequency rank #39,757, classified as anoun, pronounced \dy.ʃe\. duchesse is at rank #8,230, tagged as anoun, pronounced \dy.ʃɛs\.
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 47987, this pair ranks #182,561 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of duchés vs duchesse
Shared letters: cdhsu. Private to "duchés": é. Private to "duchesse": e.
"duchés" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "duchesse" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- duchesse ← dcuhesse · dduchesse · ducchesse · ducehsse · duchese · ducheses · duchhesse · duchsese
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "duchés" for "duchesse" ever safe?
Frequency check: "duchés" vs "duchesse" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "duchés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "duchesse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #182,561 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "duchés" and "duchesse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dèche vs duchés". 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 #182,561 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.