Which to use
“herbes” and “hordes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,251
- “herbes” frequency rank
- #23,887
- “hordes” frequency rank
- 32138
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | herbes | hordes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de herbe. | Pluriel de horde. |
Where the eye mixes herbes and hordes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. herbes and hordes follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: herbes vs hordes
A purely visual mix-up. herbes (\ɛʁb\) and hordes (^((h aspiré))\ɔʁd\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32138, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
herbes is recorded at frequency rank #8,251, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛʁb\. hordes is at rank #23,887, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɔʁd\.
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 32138, this pair ranks #299,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of herbes vs hordes
Shared letters: ehrs. Private to "herbes": b. Private to "hordes": do.
"herbes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC · "hordes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "herbes" and "hordes" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "herbes" or "hordes"?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "herbes" and "hordes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "herbes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hordes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #299,285 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "herbes" and "hordes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hordes vs hornet". 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 #299,285 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.