Which to use
“étoile” and “étoiles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,306
- “étoile” frequency rank
- #2,159
- “étoiles” frequency rank
- 5465
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | étoile | étoiles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Corps céleste brillant, ou ayant brillé, de sa propre lumière. | Pluriel de étoile. |
Same sound, different letters: étoile vs étoiles
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. étoile runs 6 letters (VCVVCV) against étoiles's 7 (VCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: étoile vs étoiles
This is the hard kind. étoile and étoiles are pronounced identically (\e.twal\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “étoile” sits inside “étoiles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5465, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
étoile is recorded at frequency rank #3,306, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.twal\. étoiles is at rank #2,159, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.twal\.
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 5465, this pair ranks #428,943 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of étoile vs étoiles
Shared letters: eiloté. Private to "étoile": -. Private to "étoiles": s.
"étoile" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV · "étoiles" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "étoile" for "étoiles" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "étoile" or "étoiles" show up more?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "étoile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "étoiles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #428,943 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "étoile" and "étoiles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "édiles vs étoiles". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #428,943 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.