épiquesvsévêquesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: épiques is a adjective, évêques is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“épiques” is an adjective and “évêques” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#30,441
“épiques” frequency rank
#6,578
“évêques” frequency rank
37019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature épiques évêques
Definition Pluriel de épique. Pluriel de évêque.

Where the eye mixes épiques and évêques

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. épiques and évêques follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
épiques
7 ch
évêques

Why the eye confuses épiques with évêques

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: épiques is \e.pik\ while évêques is \e.vɛk\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

épiques is recorded at frequency rank #30,441, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.pik\. évêques is at rank #6,578, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.vɛk\.

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 37019, this pair ranks #265,457 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of épiques vs évêques

Shared letters: eqsué. Private to "épiques": ip. Private to "évêques": vê.

"épiques" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVVC  ·  "évêques" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "épiques" for "évêques" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "épiques" is an adjective and "évêques" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "épiques" or "évêques" show up more?
"évêques" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,578 in our French list, against #30,441 for "épiques". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "épiques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "évêques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #265,457 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "épiques" and "évêques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éduqués vs épiques". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #265,457 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