Which to use
“ides” and “idoles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,389
- “ides” frequency rank
- #15,647
- “idoles” frequency rank
- 58036
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ides | idoles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Le quinzième jour des mois de mars, de mai, de juillet et d’octobre dans le calendrier des anciens Romains, et le treizième des autres mois. | Pluriel de idole. |
Where the eye mixes ides and idoles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. ides runs 4 letters (VCVC) against idoles's 6 (VCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between ides and idoles
A purely visual mix-up. ides (\id\) and idoles (\i.dɔl\) 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 58036, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ides is recorded at frequency rank #42,389, classified as anoun, pronounced \id\. idoles is at rank #15,647, tagged as anoun, pronounced \i.dɔl\.
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 58036, this pair ranks #111,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of ides vs idoles
Shared letters: deis. Private to "ides": -. Private to "idoles": lo.
"ides" · 4 letters · shape VCVC · "idoles" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "ides" and "idoles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "ides" or "idoles"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "ides" and "idoles" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "ides" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "idoles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #111,452 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ides" and "idoles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ides vs ime". 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 #111,452 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.