Which to use
“médical” and “médicales” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,413
- “médical” frequency rank
- #7,465
- “médicales” frequency rank
- 10878
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | médical | médicales |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ce qui a trait à la médecine ou à la santé. | Féminin pluriel de médical. |
Same sound, different letters: médical vs médicales
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. médical runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against médicales's 9 (CVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: médical vs médicales
This is the hard kind. médical and médicales are pronounced identically (\me.di.kal\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “médical” sits inside “médicales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
médical is recorded at frequency rank #3,413, classified as anadj, pronounced \me.di.kal\. médicales is at rank #7,465, tagged as anadj, pronounced \me.di.kal\.
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 10878, this pair ranks #411,320 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of médical vs médicales
Shared letters: acdilmé. Private to "médical": -. Private to "médicales": es.
"médical" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "médicales" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "médical" and "médicales" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "médical" or "médicales"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "médical" / "médicales". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "médical" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "médicales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #411,320 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "médical" and "médicales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "médical vs médina". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #411,320 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.