Which to use
“espace” and “espèce” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #739
- “espace” frequency rank
- #1,027
- “espèce” frequency rank
- 1766
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | espace | espèce |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Étendue indéfinie. | Image ; aspect ; apparence. |
Where the eye mixes espace and espèce
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses espace with espèce
A purely visual mix-up. espace (\ɛs.pas\) and espèce (\ɛs.pɛs\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - a in “espace” becomes è in “espèce”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
espace is recorded at frequency rank #739, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛs.pas\. espèce is at rank #1,027, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛs.pɛs\.
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 1766, this pair ranks #437,444 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of espace vs espèce
Shared letters: ceps. Private to "espace": a. Private to "espèce": è.
"espace" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "espèce" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- espace ← epsace · esapce · espacce · espaec · espcae · esppace · esspace · sepace
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "espace" and "espèce" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "espace" or "espèce"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "espace" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "espèce" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #437,444 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "espace" and "espèce" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "espace vs España". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #437,444 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.