lavagevslavagesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,243
“lavage” frequency rank
#49,189
“lavages” frequency rank
60432
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lavage lavages
Definition Action de laver. Pluriel de lavage.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set lavage and lavages apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
lavage
7 ch
lavages

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. lavage and lavages are pronounced identically (\la.vaʒ\) and both work as anoun. 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) - “lavage” sits inside “lavages”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60432, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lavage is recorded at frequency rank #11,243, classified as anoun, pronounced \la.vaʒ\. lavages is at rank #49,189, tagged as anoun, pronounced \la.vaʒ\.

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 60432, this pair ranks #97,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lavage vs lavages

Shared letters: aeglv. Private to "lavage": -. Private to "lavages": s.

"lavage" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "lavages" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lavagealvage · laavge · lavaeg · lavagge · lavgae · lavvage · llavage · lvaage
  • lavagesalvages · laavges · lavaegs · lavagess · lavagges · lavagse · lavgaes · lavvages

Frequency comparison

lavage#11,243
lavages#49,189

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "lavage" and "lavages" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\la.vaʒ\), 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, "lavage" or "lavages"?
"lavage" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,243 in our French list, against #49,189 for "lavages". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering lavage vs lavages

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 “lavage” 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