Which to use
“fourchette” and “fourchettes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,505
- “fourchette” frequency rank
- #33,269
- “fourchettes” frequency rank
- 43774
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fourchette | fourchettes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ustensile de table, en forme de petite fourche qui a deux, trois ou quatre pointes ou dents par le bout, et dont on se sert pour piquer les aliments. | Pluriel de fourchette. |
Same sound, different letters: fourchette vs fourchettes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. fourchette runs 10 letters (CVVCCCVCCV) against fourchettes's 11 (CVVCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - fourchette / fourchettes
This is the hard kind. fourchette and fourchettes are pronounced identically (\fuʁ.ʃɛt\) 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) - “fourchette” sits inside “fourchettes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43774, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fourchette is recorded at frequency rank #10,505, classified as anoun, pronounced \fuʁ.ʃɛt\. fourchettes is at rank #33,269, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fuʁ.ʃɛt\.
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 43774, this pair ranks #215,510 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fourchette vs fourchettes
Shared letters: cefhortu. Private to "fourchette": -. Private to "fourchettes": s.
"fourchette" · 10 letters · shape CVVCCCVCCV · "fourchettes" · 11 letters · shape CVVCCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fourchette ← ffourchette · foruchette · foucrhette · fourcchette · fourcehtte · fourchete · fourchetet · fourchhette
- fourchettes ← ffourchettes · foruchettes · foucrhettes · fourcchettes · fourcehttes · fourchetes · fourchetets · fourchettess
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fourchette" for "fourchettes" ever safe?
Which is more common, "fourchette" or "fourchettes"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "fourchette" / "fourchettes". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "fourchette" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fourchettes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,510 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #215,510 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.