Which to use
“genou” and “genoux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,301
- “genou” frequency rank
- #4,675
- “genoux” frequency rank
- 10976
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | genou | genoux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Articulation joignant la jambe à la cuisse chez l’être humain. | Pluriel de genou. |
Same sound, different letters: genou vs genoux
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. genou runs 5 letters (CVCVV) against genoux's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - genou / genoux
This is the hard kind. genou and genoux are pronounced identically (\ʒə.nu\) 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) - “genou” sits inside “genoux”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10976, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
genou is recorded at frequency rank #6,301, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʒə.nu\. genoux is at rank #4,675, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʒə.nu\.
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 10976, this pair ranks #410,942 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of genou vs genoux
Shared letters: egnou. Private to "genou": -. Private to "genoux": x.
"genou" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV · "genoux" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "genou" and "genoux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "genou" or "genoux"?
What to do next
"genou" and "genoux" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "genou" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "genoux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #410,942 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "genou" and "genoux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "genou vs gents". 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 #410,942 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.