Which to use
“microbe” and “microbes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,867
- “microbe” frequency rank
- #20,501
- “microbes” frequency rank
- 61368
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | microbe | microbes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Organisme vivant qui ne peut être vu qu’en utilisant un microscope. | Pluriel de microbe. |
Same sound, different letters: microbe vs microbes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - microbe and microbes
This is the hard kind. microbe and microbes are pronounced identically (\mi.kʁɔb\) 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) - “microbe” sits inside “microbes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61368, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
microbe is recorded at frequency rank #40,867, classified as anoun, pronounced \mi.kʁɔb\. microbes is at rank #20,501, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mi.kʁɔb\.
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 61368, this pair ranks #92,654 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of microbe vs microbes
Shared letters: bceimor. Private to "microbe": -. Private to "microbes": s.
"microbe" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "microbes" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "microbe" and "microbes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "microbe" vs "microbes" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "microbe" / "microbes". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "microbe" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "microbes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #92,654 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "microbe" and "microbes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "microbe vs microns". 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 #92,654 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.