Which to use
“flots” and “flottes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,882
- “flots” frequency rank
- #24,977
- “flottes” frequency rank
- 40859
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | flots | flottes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de flot. | Pluriel de flotte. |
Where the eye mixes flots and flottes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between flots and flottes
A purely visual mix-up. flots (\flo\) and flottes (\flɔt\) 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 40859, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
flots is recorded at frequency rank #15,882, classified as anoun, pronounced \flo\. flottes is at rank #24,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced \flɔt\.
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 40859, this pair ranks #237,374 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of flots vs flottes
Shared letters: flost. Private to "flots": -. Private to "flottes": e.
"flots" · 5 letters · shape CCVCC · "flottes" · 7 letters · shape CCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "flots" and "flottes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "flots" or "flottes" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "flots" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "flottes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #237,374 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "flots" and "flottes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fiotte vs flottes". 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 #237,374 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.