modestevsmodestesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#5,156
“modeste” frequency rank
#9,348
“modestes” frequency rank
14504
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature modeste modestes
Definition Qui a de la retenue, de la modération, qui ne donne dans aucun excès. Pluriel de modeste.

Same sound, different letters: modeste vs modestes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.

7 ch
modeste
8 ch
modestes

Same sound, different spelling - modeste / modestes

This is the hard kind. modeste and modestes are pronounced identically (\mɔ.dɛst\) 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) - “modeste” sits inside “modestes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14504, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

modeste is recorded at frequency rank #5,156, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɔ.dɛst\. modestes is at rank #9,348, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɔ.dɛst\.

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 14504, this pair ranks #396,371 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of modeste vs modestes

Shared letters: demost. Private to "modeste": -. Private to "modestes": -.

"modeste" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "modestes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • modestemdoeste · mmodeste · moddeste · modeset · modesste · modestte · modetse · modsete
  • modestesmdoestes · mmodestes · moddestes · modesets · modesstes · modestess · modestse · modesttes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "modeste" for "modestes" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\mɔ.dɛst\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary French text, does "modeste" or "modestes" show up more?
"modeste" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,156 in our French list, against #9,348 for "modestes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

"modeste" and "modestes" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "modeste" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "modestes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #396,371 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "modeste" and "modestes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modeste vs molette". 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 #396,371 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list