geléesvsgemmesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#22,875
“gelées” frequency rank
#31,517
“gemmes” frequency rank
54392
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gelées gemmes
Definition Pluriel de gelée. Pluriel de gemme.

Where the eye mixes gelées and gemmes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gelées (CVCVVC) and gemmes (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
gelées
6 ch
gemmes

Visual trap between gelées and gemmes

A purely visual mix-up. gelées (\ʒə.le\) and gemmes (\ʒɛm\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54392, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gelées is recorded at frequency rank #22,875, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʒə.le\. gemmes is at rank #31,517, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʒɛm\.

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 54392, this pair ranks #134,339 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gelées vs gemmes

Shared letters: egs. Private to "gelées": lé. Private to "gemmes": m.

"gelées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "gemmes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gemmes ← egmmes · gemems · gemes · gemmess · gemmse · ggemmes · gmemes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "gelées" and "gemmes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʒə.le\ versus \ʒɛm\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "gelées" vs "gemmes" - which ranks higher?
"gelées" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,875 in our French list, against #31,517 for "gemmes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "gelées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gemmes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #134,339 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "gelées" and "gemmes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gemmes vs geôles". 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 #134,339 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