Which to use
“échelle” and “échelles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,940
- “échelle” frequency rank
- #13,942
- “échelles” frequency rank
- 15882
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | échelle | échelles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Dispositif permettant de monter et descendre, généralement composé de deux montants de bois ou de métal munis de barreaux disposés à intervalles réguliers. | Pluriel de échelle. |
Same sound, different letters: échelle vs échelles
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. échelle runs 7 letters (VCCVCCV) against échelles's 8 (VCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - échelle and échelles
This is the hard kind. échelle and échelles are pronounced identically (\e.ʃɛl\) 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) - “échelle” sits inside “échelles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15882, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
échelle is recorded at frequency rank #1,940, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ʃɛl\. échelles is at rank #13,942, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.ʃɛl\.
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 15882, this pair ranks #390,416 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of échelle vs échelles
Shared letters: cehlé. Private to "échelle": -. Private to "échelles": s.
"échelle" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCCV · "échelles" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "échelle" and "échelles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "échelle" or "échelles"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "échelle" / "échelles". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "échelle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "échelles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #390,416 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "échelle" and "échelles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écaille vs échelle". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #390,416 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.