fantasmesvsfantômesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#11,581
“fantasmes” frequency rank
#9,162
“fantômes” frequency rank
20743
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fantasmes fantômes
Definition Pluriel de fantasme. Pluriel de fantôme.

Where the eye mixes fantasmes and fantômes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. fantasmes runs 9 letters (CVCCVCCVC) against fantômes's 8 (CVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
fantasmes
8 ch
fantômes

Visual trap between fantasmes and fantômes

A purely visual mix-up. fantasmes (\fɑ̃.tasm\) and fantômes (\fɑ̃.tom\) 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 20743, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fantasmes is recorded at frequency rank #11,581, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɑ̃.tasm\. fantômes is at rank #9,162, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɑ̃.tom\.

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 20743, this pair ranks #366,715 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fantasmes vs fantômes

Shared letters: aefmnst. Private to "fantasmes": -. Private to "fantômes": ô.

"fantasmes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC  ·  "fantômes" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • fantasmes ← afntasmes · fanatsmes · fanntasmes · fantamses · fantasems · fantasmess · fantasmmes · fantasmse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fantasmes" for "fantômes" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\fɑ̃.tasm\ versus \fɑ̃.tom\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "fantasmes" vs "fantômes" - which ranks higher?
"fantômes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,162 in our French list, against #11,581 for "fantasmes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fantasmes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "fantômes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #366,715 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fantasmes" and "fantômes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fantasmer vs fantasmes". 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 #366,715 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