nettesvsneuvesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,543
“nettes” frequency rank
#13,219
“neuves” frequency rank
31762
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nettes neuves
Definition Féminin pluriel de net. Féminin pluriel de neuf.

Where the eye mixes nettes and neuves

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
nettes
6 ch
neuves

Look-alike desk: nettes vs neuves

A purely visual mix-up. nettes (\nɛt\) and neuves (\nœv\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31762, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nettes is recorded at frequency rank #18,543, classified as anadj, pronounced \nɛt\. neuves is at rank #13,219, tagged as anadj, pronounced \nœv\.

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 31762, this pair ranks #301,716 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nettes vs neuves

Shared letters: ens. Private to "nettes": t. Private to "neuves": uv.

"nettes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "neuves" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nettesenttes · netes · netets · nettess · nettse · nnettes · ntetes
  • neuvesenuves · neuevs · neuvess · neuvse · neuvves · nevues · nneuves · nueves

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nettes" for "neuves" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\nɛt\ versus \nœv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "nettes" vs "neuves" - which ranks higher?
"neuves" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,219 in our French list, against #18,543 for "nettes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nettes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "neuves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #301,716 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nettes" and "neuves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "natte vs nettes". 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 #301,716 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