Which to use
“église” and “églises” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #892
- “église” frequency rank
- #4,114
- “églises” frequency rank
- 5006
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | église | églises |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lieu de culte dans la religion chrétienne. | Pluriel de église. |
Same sound, different letters: église vs églises
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. église runs 6 letters (VCCVCV) against églises's 7 (VCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: église vs églises
This is the hard kind. église and églises are pronounced identically (\e.ɡliz\) 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) - “église” sits inside “églises”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5006, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
église is recorded at frequency rank #892, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ɡliz\. églises is at rank #4,114, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.ɡliz\.
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 5006, this pair ranks #430,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of église vs églises
Shared letters: egilsé. Private to "église": -. Private to "églises": -.
"église" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "églises" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "église" and "églises" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "église" vs "églises" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "église" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "églises" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #430,147 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "église" and "églises" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "église vs éprise". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #430,147 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.