enquêtevsenquêtesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,161
“enquête” frequency rank
#4,937
“enquêtes” frequency rank
6098
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enquête enquêtes
Definition Recherche méthodique d’informations précises. Pluriel de enquête.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set enquête and enquêtes apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
enquête
8 ch
enquêtes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. enquête and enquêtes are pronounced identically (\ɑ̃.kɛt\) 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) - “enquête” sits inside “enquêtes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6098, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enquête is recorded at frequency rank #1,161, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.kɛt\. enquêtes is at rank #4,937, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.kɛt\.

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 6098, this pair ranks #427,179 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of enquête vs enquêtes

Shared letters: enqtuê. Private to "enquête": -. Private to "enquêtes": s.

"enquête" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV  ·  "enquêtes" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC

Frequency comparison

enquête#1,161
enquêtes#4,937

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enquête" and "enquêtes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɑ̃.kɛt\), 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, "enquête" or "enquêtes"?
"enquête" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,161 in our French list, against #4,937 for "enquêtes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering enquête vs enquêtes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “enquête” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list