neigevsneigesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,290
“neige” frequency rank
#9,882
“neiges” frequency rank
12172
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature neige neiges
Definition Forme de pluie cristalline se produisant lorsque la température descend en dessous de 0 °C, les gouttes d’eau s’étant transformées en flocons blancs et légers. Pluriel de neige.

Same sound, different letters: neige vs neiges

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.

5 ch
neige
6 ch
neiges

Homophone desk: neige vs neiges

This is the hard kind. neige and neiges are pronounced identically (\nɛʒ\) 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) - “neige” sits inside “neiges”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12172, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

neige is recorded at frequency rank #2,290, classified as anoun, pronounced \nɛʒ\. neiges is at rank #9,882, tagged as anoun, pronounced \nɛʒ\.

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 12172, this pair ranks #406,304 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of neige vs neiges

Shared letters: egin. Private to "neige": -. Private to "neiges": s.

"neige" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "neiges" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • neigeenige · negie · neieg · neigge · niege · nneige
  • neigeseniges · negies · neiegs · neigess · neigges · neigse · nieges · nneiges

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "neige" for "neiges" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\nɛʒ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "neige" vs "neiges" - which ranks higher?
"neige" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,290 in our French list, against #9,882 for "neiges". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "neige" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "neiges" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #406,304 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "neige" and "neiges" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "naïves vs neiges". 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 #406,304 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