Which to use
“Indes” and “Indus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,073
- “Indes” frequency rank
- #27,483
- “Indus” frequency rank
- 38556
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Indes | Indus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel du mot Inde utilisé pour désigner cette région du monde, sans se référer à un État précis, et en particulier pour désigner les territoires d’Asie du Sud et d’Asie du Sud-Est, c'est-à-dire le Béloutchistan iranien, le Pakistan, la République de l’Inde, le Népal, le Bhoutan, le Bangladesh, le Myanmar, le Sri Lanka, les Maldives, la Thaïlande, la Malaisie, le Viêt Nam, le Cambodge, le Laos, les Philippines, Brunéi, Singapour, le Timor oriental et l’Indonésie (appelée Indes orientales néerlandaises avant l’indépendance), à l’exception de l’Irian Jaya, qui fait partie de la Mélanésie. | Fleuve d’Asie qui prend sa source en Chine, passe par le Pakistan et l’Inde et se jette dans l’océan Indien, et qui a donné son nom à l’Inde. |
Where the eye mixes Indes and Indus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Indes with Indus
A purely visual mix-up. Indes (\ɛ̃d\) and Indus (\ɛ̃.dys\) 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 a single letter - e in “Indes” becomes u in “Indus”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38556, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Indes is recorded at frequency rank #11,073, classified as aname, pronounced \ɛ̃d\. Indus is at rank #27,483, tagged as aname, pronounced \ɛ̃.dys\.
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 38556, this pair ranks #254,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Indes vs Indus
Shared letters: dins. Private to "Indes": e. Private to "Indus": u.
"Indes" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "Indus" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "Indes" for "Indus" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "Indes" or "Indus" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "Indes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "Indus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #254,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Indes" and "Indus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Indus vs infuse". 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 #254,467 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.