iconvsicônesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,845
“icon” frequency rank
#19,311
“icônes” frequency rank
58156
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature icon icônes
Definition Icône. Pluriel de icône.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set icon and icônes apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
icon
6 ch
icônes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. icon (\ˈaɪ.kɒn\) and icônes (\i.kon\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58156, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

icon is recorded at frequency rank #38,845, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈaɪ.kɒn\. icônes is at rank #19,311, tagged as anoun, pronounced \i.kon\.

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 58156, this pair ranks #110,709 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of icon vs icônes

Shared letters: cin. Private to "icon": o. Private to "icônes": esô.

"icon" · 4 letters · shape VCVC  ·  "icônes" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • iconiccon · icno · iconn · iocn

Frequency comparison

icon#38,845
icônes#19,311

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "icon" and "icônes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ˈaɪ.kɒn\ versus \i.kon\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "icon" or "icônes"?
"icônes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,311 in our French list, against #38,845 for "icon". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering icon vs icônes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “icon” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list