gesvsgesteConfusable pair

Quick tell: ges is a pronoun, geste is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ges” is a pronoun and “geste” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#17,144
“ges” frequency rank
#2,780
“geste” frequency rank
19924
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ges geste
Definition Contraction de ge les (« je les »). Action et mouvement du corps et particulièrement des bras et des mains, action et mouvement employés à signifier quelque chose.

Letter map: ges vs geste

Shared letters muted; letters that set ges and geste apart highlighted. Shared run: 3.

3 ch
ges
5 ch
geste

Grammar separator: ges vs geste

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: ges is apronoun and gesteanoun. On the page they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “ges” sits inside “geste”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19924, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ges is recorded at frequency rank #17,144, classified as apron. geste is at rank #2,780, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʒɛst\.

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 19924, this pair ranks #370,839 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ges vs geste

Shared letters: egs. Private to "ges": -. Private to "geste": t.

"ges" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "geste" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gesteegste · geset · gesste · gestte · getse · ggeste · gsete

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ges" for "geste" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ges" is a pronoun and "geste" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "ges" or "geste" show up more?
"geste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,780 in our French list, against #17,144 for "ges". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "ges" and "geste".

  • Full dictionary entry for "ges" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "geste" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #370,839 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ges" and "geste" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ges vs gx". 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 #370,839 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