excèsvsexcusesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“excès” and “excuses” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#4,668
“excès” frequency rank
#3,914
“excuses” frequency rank
8582
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature excès excuses
Definition Ce qui est en trop. Pluriel de excuse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set excès and excuses apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
excès
7 ch
excuses

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. excès (\ɛk.sɛ\) and excuses (\ɛks.kyz\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8582, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

excès is recorded at frequency rank #4,668, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛk.sɛ\. excuses is at rank #3,914, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛks.kyz\.

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 8582, this pair ranks #419,544 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of excès vs excuses

Shared letters: cesx. Private to "excès": è. Private to "excuses": u.

"excès" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC  ·  "excuses" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • excusesecxuses · exccuses · excsues · excuess · excusess · excusses · exucses · exxcuses

Frequency comparison

excès#4,668
excuses#3,914

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "excès" and "excuses" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛk.sɛ\ versus \ɛks.kyz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "excès" or "excuses"?
"excuses" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,914 in our French list, against #4,668 for "excès". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering excès vs excuses

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “excès” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list