Which to use
“fatale” and “fatales” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,407
- “fatale” frequency rank
- #33,259
- “fatales” frequency rank
- 44666
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fatale | fatales |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de fatal. | Féminin pluriel de fatal. |
Same sound, different letters: fatale vs fatales
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. fatale runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against fatales's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - fatale / fatales
This is the hard kind. fatale and fatales are pronounced identically (\fa.tal\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “fatale” sits inside “fatales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44666, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fatale is recorded at frequency rank #11,407, classified as anadj, pronounced \fa.tal\. fatales is at rank #33,259, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fa.tal\.
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 44666, this pair ranks #208,735 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fatale vs fatales
Shared letters: aeflt. Private to "fatale": -. Private to "fatales": s.
"fatale" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "fatales" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fatale" for "fatales" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fatale" or "fatales"?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "fatale" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fatales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #208,735 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fatale" and "fatales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fœtale vs fatales". 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 #208,735 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.