Which to use
“épée” and “épées” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,724
- “épée” frequency rank
- #18,628
- “épées” frequency rank
- 23352
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | épée | épées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Arme offensive et défensive composée d’une longue lame affilée de section triangulaire avec une poignée et que les guerriers portaient au côté dans un fourreau. | Pluriel de épée. |
Same sound, different letters: épée vs épées
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - épée / épées
This is the hard kind. épée and épées are pronounced identically (\e.pe\) 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) - “épée” sits inside “épées”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23352, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
épée is recorded at frequency rank #4,724, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.pe\. épées is at rank #18,628, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.pe\.
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 23352, this pair ranks #352,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of épée vs épées
Shared letters: epé. Private to "épée": -. Private to "épées": s.
"épée" · 4 letters · shape VCVV · "épées" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "épée" and "épées" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "épée" vs "épées" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "épée" / "épées". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "épée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "épées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #352,996 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "épée" and "épées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épées vs épier". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #352,996 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.