Which to use
“époques” and “épouses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,260
- “époques” frequency rank
- #14,832
- “épouses” frequency rank
- 25092
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | époques | épouses |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de époque. | Pluriel de épouse. |
Where the eye mixes époques and épouses
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. époques (VCVCVVC) and épouses (VCVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: époques vs épouses
A purely visual mix-up. époques (\e.pɔk\) and épouses (\e.puz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25092, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
époques is recorded at frequency rank #10,260, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.pɔk\. épouses is at rank #14,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.puz\.
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 25092, this pair ranks #342,852 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of époques vs épouses
Shared letters: eopsué. Private to "époques": q. Private to "épouses": -.
"époques" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVVC · "épouses" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "époques" for "épouses" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "époques" or "épouses" show up more?
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 "époques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "épouses" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #342,852 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "époques" and "épouses" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épopées vs épouses". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #342,852 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.