Which to use
“espionne” and “espions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,136
- “espionne” frequency rank
- #13,167
- “espions” frequency rank
- 33303
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | espionne | espions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celle qui est chargée par un pays de recueillir clandestinement, dans un autre pays, des informations gardées secrètes ; celle qui espionne. | Pluriel d’espion. |
Where the eye mixes espionne and espions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. espionne runs 8 letters (VCCVVCCV) against espions's 7 (VCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses espionne with espions
A purely visual mix-up. espionne (\ɛs.pjɔn\) and espions (\ɛs.pjɔ̃\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 33303, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
espionne is recorded at frequency rank #20,136, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛs.pjɔn\. espions is at rank #13,167, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛs.pjɔ̃\.
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 33303, this pair ranks #291,543 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of espionne vs espions
Shared letters: einops. Private to "espionne": -. Private to "espions": -.
"espionne" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCCV · "espions" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "espionne" and "espions" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "espionne" or "espions" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "espionne" and "espions" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "espionne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "espions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #291,543 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "espionne" and "espions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "espérions vs espions". 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 #291,543 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.