espacées vs espèces, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#37,321
“espacées” frequency rank: #1,864
“espèces” frequency rank: 39185
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	espacées	espèces
Definition	Féminin pluriel de espacé.	Pluriel de espèce.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set espacées and espèces apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

8 ch

espacées

7 ch

espèces

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: espacées is \ɛs.pa.se\ while espèces is \ɛs.pɛs\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

espacées is recorded at frequency rank #37,321, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛs.pa.se\. espèces is at rank #1,864, 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 39185, this pair ranks #249,862 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of espacées vs espèces

Shared letters: ceps. Private to "espacées": aé. Private to "espèces": è.

"espacées" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC · "espèces" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Frequency comparison

espacées#37,321

espèces#1,864

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "espacées" and "espèces" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "espacées" is an adjective and "espèces" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "espacées" or "espèces"?

"espèces" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,864 in our French list, against #37,321 for "espacées". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering espacées vs espèces

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “espacées”; for a noun, it's “espèces”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “espacées” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable