électrodevsélectrodesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“électrode” and “électrodes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#40,086
“électrode” frequency rank
#27,297
“électrodes” frequency rank
67383
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature électrode électrodes
Definition Conducteur métallique qui amène le courant électrique dans les liquides et dans les gaz raréfiés. Pluriel de électrode.

Same sound, different letters: électrode vs électrodes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters.

9 ch
électrode
10 ch
électrodes

Ear matches; page differs - électrode and électrodes

This is the hard kind. électrode and électrodes are pronounced identically (\e.lɛk.tʁɔd\) 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) - “électrode” sits inside “électrodes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 67383, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

électrode is recorded at frequency rank #40,086, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.lɛk.tʁɔd\. électrodes is at rank #27,297, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.lɛk.tʁɔd\.

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 67383, this pair ranks #63,661 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of électrode vs électrodes

Shared letters: cdelorté. Private to "électrode": -. Private to "électrodes": s.

"électrode" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCCVCV  ·  "électrodes" · 10 letters · shape VCVCCCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "électrode" and "électrodes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\e.lɛk.tʁɔd\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "électrode" or "électrodes"?
"électrodes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,297 in our French list, against #40,086 for "électrode". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "électrode" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "électrodes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #63,661 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "électrode" and "électrodes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "électrode vs électron". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #63,661 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list