Which to use
“gemme” and “gommes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #35,963
- “gemme” frequency rank
- #39,322
- “gommes” frequency rank
- 75285
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | gemme | gommes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pierre fine, pierre précieuse, pierre ornementale ou synthétique répondant à des critères de dureté, d’éclat, de couleur et de transparence. | Pluriel de gomme. |
Where the eye mixes gemme and gommes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. gemme runs 5 letters (CVCCV) against gommes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: gemme vs gommes
A purely visual mix-up. gemme (\ʒɛm\) and gommes (\ɡɔm\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75285, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
gemme is recorded at frequency rank #35,963, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʒɛm\. gommes is at rank #39,322, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡɔm\.
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 75285, this pair ranks #34,557 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of gemme vs gommes
Shared letters: egm. Private to "gemme": -. Private to "gommes": os.
"gemme" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "gommes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "gemme" for "gommes" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "gemme" or "gommes" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "gemme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "gommes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #34,557 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "gemme" and "gommes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gégé vs gemme". 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 #34,557 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.