Which to use
“guêpe” and “guêpes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,795
- “guêpe” frequency rank
- #27,830
- “guêpes” frequency rank
- 57625
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | guêpe | guêpes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Insecte de l’ordre des hyménoptères (sous-classe des ptérygotes, groupe des néoptères). | Pluriel de guêpe. |
Same sound, different letters: guêpe vs guêpes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - guêpe and guêpes
This is the hard kind. guêpe and guêpes are pronounced identically (\ɡɛp\) 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) - “guêpe” sits inside “guêpes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57625, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
guêpe is recorded at frequency rank #29,795, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡɛp\. guêpes is at rank #27,830, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɡɛp\.
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 57625, this pair ranks #113,912 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of guêpe vs guêpes
Shared letters: egpuê. Private to "guêpe": -. Private to "guêpes": s.
"guêpe" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "guêpes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "guêpe" and "guêpes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "guêpe" or "guêpes"?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "guêpe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "guêpes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #113,912 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "guêpe" and "guêpes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gégé vs guêpe". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #113,912 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.