Which to use
“laïque” and “laïques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #9,865
- “laïque” frequency rank
- #21,989
- “laïques” frequency rank
- 31854
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | laïque | laïques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante de laïc. | Féminin pluriel de laïc. |
Same sound, different letters: laïque vs laïques
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. laïque runs 6 letters (CVCCVV) against laïques's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - laïque and laïques
This is the hard kind. laïque and laïques are pronounced identically (\la.ik\) 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) - “laïque” sits inside “laïques”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31854, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
laïque is recorded at frequency rank #9,865, classified as anadj, pronounced \la.ik\. laïques is at rank #21,989, tagged as anadj, pronounced \la.ik\.
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 31854, this pair ranks #301,126 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of laïque vs laïques
Shared letters: aelquï. Private to "laïque": -. Private to "laïques": s.
"laïque" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVV · "laïques" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "laïque" for "laïques" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "laïque" or "laïques" show up more?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "laïque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "laïques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #301,126 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "laïque" and "laïques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "laïques vs Lucques". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #301,126 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.