horlogevshorlogesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#7,841
“horloge” frequency rank
#26,752
“horloges” frequency rank
34593
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature horloge horloges
Definition Instrument destiné à mesurer le temps et à indiquer l'heure. Pluriel de horloge.

Same sound, different letters: horloge vs horloges

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.

7 ch
horloge
8 ch
horloges

Homophone desk: horloge vs horloges

This is the hard kind. horloge and horloges are pronounced identically (^((h muet))\ɔʁ.lɔʒ\) 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) - “horloge” sits inside “horloges”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34593, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

horloge is recorded at frequency rank #7,841, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\ɔʁ.lɔʒ\. horloges is at rank #26,752, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\ɔʁ.lɔʒ\.

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 34593, this pair ranks #282,738 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of horloge vs horloges

Shared letters: eghlor. Private to "horloge": -. Private to "horloges": s.

"horloge" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV  ·  "horloges" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • horlogehhorloge · holroge · horlgoe · horlloge · horloeg · horlogge · horolge · horrloge
  • horlogeshhorloges · holroges · horlgoes · horlloges · horloegs · horlogess · horlogges · horlogse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "horloge" for "horloges" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (^((h muet))\ɔʁ.lɔʒ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "horloge" vs "horloges" - which ranks higher?
"horloge" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,841 in our French list, against #26,752 for "horloges". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "horloge" / "horloges". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "horloge" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "horloges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #282,738 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "horloge" and "horloges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "horloger vs horloges". 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 #282,738 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