Which to use
“hôpital” and “hôpitaux” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,181
- “hôpital” frequency rank
- #4,679
- “hôpitaux” frequency rank
- 5860
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hôpital | hôpitaux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Établissement de production de soins et de services liés à la santé où les malades et les blessés sont soignés. | Pluriel de hôpital. |
Where the eye mixes hôpital and hôpitaux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. hôpital runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against hôpitaux's 8 (CVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: hôpital vs hôpitaux
A purely visual mix-up. hôpital (^((h muet))\o.pi.tal\) and hôpitaux (^((h muet))\o.pi.to\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5860, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hôpital is recorded at frequency rank #1,181, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\o.pi.tal\. hôpitaux is at rank #4,679, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\o.pi.to\.
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 5860, this pair ranks #427,865 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of hôpital vs hôpitaux
Shared letters: ahiptô. Private to "hôpital": l. Private to "hôpitaux": ux.
"hôpital" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "hôpitaux" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hôpital" and "hôpitaux" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "hôpital" or "hôpitaux"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "hôpital" and "hôpitaux" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "hôpital" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "hôpitaux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #427,865 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hôpital" and "hôpitaux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hôpital vs hospital". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #427,865 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.