inégale vs inégales, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#25,018
“inégale” frequency rank: #39,854
“inégales” frequency rank: 64872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	inégale	inégales
Definition	Féminin singulier de inégal.	Féminin pluriel de inégal.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set inégale and inégales apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

inégale

8 ch

inégales

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. inégale and inégales are pronounced identically (\i.ne.ɡal\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “inégale” sits inside “inégales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inégale is recorded at frequency rank #25,018, classified as anadj, pronounced \i.ne.ɡal\. inégales is at rank #39,854, tagged as anadj, pronounced \i.ne.ɡal\.

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 64872, this pair ranks #74,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of inégale vs inégales

Shared letters: aegilné. Private to "inégale": -. Private to "inégales": s.

"inégale" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVCV · "inégales" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVCVC

Frequency comparison

inégale#25,018

inégales#39,854

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "inégale" and "inégales" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\i.ne.ɡal\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "inégale" or "inégales"?

"inégale" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,018 in our French list, against #39,854 for "inégales". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering inégale vs inégales

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 “inégale” entry
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