Which to use
“fable” and “fables” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,129
- “fable” frequency rank
- #21,620
- “fables” frequency rank
- 37749
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fable | fables |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce que l’on dit, ce que l’on raconte. | Pluriel de fable. |
Same sound, different letters: fable vs fables
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. fable runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against fables's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - fable / fables
This is the hard kind. fable and fables are pronounced identically (\fabl\) 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) - “fable” sits inside “fables”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37749, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fable is recorded at frequency rank #16,129, classified as anoun, pronounced \fabl\. fables is at rank #21,620, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fabl\.
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 37749, this pair ranks #260,207 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fable vs fables
Shared letters: abefl. Private to "fable": -. Private to "fables": s.
"fable" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "fables" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fable" for "fables" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fable" vs "fables" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "fable" / "fables". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "fable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fables" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #260,207 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fable" and "fables" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fables vs fakes". 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 #260,207 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.