espagnolevsespagnolesWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: espagnole is a noun, espagnoles is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#4,754
“espagnole” frequency rank
#13,375
“espagnoles” frequency rank
18129
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature espagnole espagnoles
Definition Sauce de base, de couleur brune. Féminin pluriel de espagnol.

Same sound, different letters: espagnole vs espagnoles

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. espagnole runs 9 letters (VCCVCCVCV) against espagnoles's 10 (VCCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
espagnole
10 ch
espagnoles

Ear matches; page differs - espagnole and espagnoles

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: espagnole and espagnoles carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɛs.pa.ɲɔl\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “espagnole” sits inside “espagnoles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18129, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

espagnole is recorded at frequency rank #4,754, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛs.pa.ɲɔl\. espagnoles is at rank #13,375, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛs.pa.ɲɔl\.

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 18129, this pair ranks #379,854 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of espagnole vs espagnoles

Shared letters: aeglnops. Private to "espagnole": -. Private to "espagnoles": -.

"espagnole" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV  ·  "espagnoles" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • espagnole ← epsagnole · esapgnole · espaggnole · espagnloe · espagnnole · espagnoel · espagnolle · espagonle
  • espagnoles ← epsagnoles · esapgnoles · espaggnoles · espagnloes · espagnnoles · espagnoels · espagnoless · espagnolles

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "espagnole" for "espagnoles" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "espagnole" is a noun and "espagnoles" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "espagnole" or "espagnoles"?
"espagnole" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,754 in our French list, against #13,375 for "espagnoles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "espagnole" / "espagnoles". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "espagnole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "espagnoles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #379,854 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "espagnole" and "espagnoles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "espagnole vs español". 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 #379,854 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