Which to use
“eaux” and “émaux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,863
- “eaux” frequency rank
- #44,274
- “émaux” frequency rank
- 46137
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | eaux | émaux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de eau. | Pluriel de émail. |
Where the eye mixes eaux and émaux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. eaux runs 4 letters (VVVC) against émaux's 5 (VCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses eaux with émaux
A purely visual mix-up. eaux (\o\) and émaux (\e.mo\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46137, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
eaux is recorded at frequency rank #1,863, classified as anoun, pronounced \o\. émaux is at rank #44,274, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.mo\.
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 46137, this pair ranks #197,318 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of eaux vs émaux
Shared letters: aux. Private to "eaux": e. Private to "émaux": mé.
"eaux" · 4 letters · shape VVVC · "émaux" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- eaux ← aeux · eauxx · eaxu · euax
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "eaux" for "émaux" ever safe?
Frequency check: "eaux" vs "émaux" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "eaux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "émaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #197,318 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "eaux" and "émaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "émaux vs emo". 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 #197,318 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.