groupvsgroupesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#6,196
“group” frequency rank
#922
“groupes” frequency rank
7118
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature group groupes
Definition Groupe. Pluriel de groupe.

Where the eye mixes group and groupes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

5 ch
group
7 ch
groupes

Why the eye confuses group with groupes

A purely visual mix-up. group (\ɡɹuːp\) and groupes (\ɡʁup\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “group” sits inside “groupes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7118, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

group is recorded at frequency rank #6,196, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡɹuːp\. groupes is at rank #922, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡʁup\.

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 7118, this pair ranks #424,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of group vs groupes

Shared letters: gopru. Private to "group": -. Private to "groupes": es.

"group" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "groupes" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • groupggroup · gorup · gropu · groupp · grroup · gruop · rgoup
  • groupesggroupes · gorupes · gropues · groueps · groupess · grouppes · groupse · grroupes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "group" and "groupes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɡɹuːp\ versus \ɡʁup\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "group" vs "groupes" - which ranks higher?
"groupes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #922 in our French list, against #6,196 for "group". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "group" and "groupes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "group" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "groupes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #424,182 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "group" and "groupes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "group vs groupée". 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 #424,182 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