Which to use
“gagnes” is a verb and “Gagnon” is a name - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #11,971
- “gagnes” frequency rank
- #20,736
- “Gagnon” frequency rank
- 32707
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gagnes | Gagnon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de gagner. | Ancienne ville québécoise ^([1]). |
Where the eye mixes gagnes and Gagnon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gagnes and Gagnon follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses gagnes with Gagnon
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gagnes is \ɡaɲ\ while Gagnon is \ɡa.ɲɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs name), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32707, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gagnes is recorded at frequency rank #11,971, classified as averb, pronounced \ɡaɲ\. Gagnon is at rank #20,736, tagged as aname, pronounced \ɡa.ɲɔ̃\.
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 32707, this pair ranks #295,468 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of gagnes vs Gagnon
Shared letters: agn. Private to "gagnes": es. Private to "Gagnon": o.
"gagnes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "Gagnon" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gagnes" for "Gagnon" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "gagnes" or "Gagnon" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "gagnes" and "Gagnon" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "gagnes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Gagnon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #295,468 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gagnes" and "Gagnon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gageons vs Gagnon". 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 #295,468 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.