Which to use
“guêpes” is a noun and “guère” is an adverb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #27,830
- “guêpes” frequency rank
- #3,924
- “guère” frequency rank
- 31754
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | guêpes | guère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de guêpe. | Presque pas ; presque rien. |
Where the eye mixes guêpes and guère
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. guêpes runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against guère's 5 (CVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: guêpes vs guère
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: guêpes is \ɡɛp\ while guère is \ɡɛʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adverb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
guêpes is recorded at frequency rank #27,830, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡɛp\. guère is at rank #3,924, tagged as anadv, pronounced \ɡɛʁ\.
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 31754, this pair ranks #301,766 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of guêpes vs guère
Shared letters: egu. Private to "guêpes": psê. Private to "guère": rè.
"guêpes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "guère" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "guêpes" and "guère" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "guêpes" or "guère"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "guêpes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "guère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #301,766 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "guêpes" and "guère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "guêpes vs guéret". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #301,766 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.