Which to use
“nitrate” and “nitrates” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #31,150
- “nitrate” frequency rank
- #30,718
- “nitrates” frequency rank
- 61868
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nitrate | nitrates |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom générique donné aux sels ou esters dérivés de l’acide nitrique. | Pluriel de nitrate. |
Same sound, different letters: nitrate vs nitrates
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - nitrate and nitrates
This is the hard kind. nitrate and nitrates are pronounced identically (\ni.tʁat\) 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) - “nitrate” sits inside “nitrates”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nitrate is recorded at frequency rank #31,150, classified as anoun, pronounced \ni.tʁat\. nitrates is at rank #30,718, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ni.tʁat\.
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 61868, this pair ranks #90,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of nitrate vs nitrates
Shared letters: aeinrt. Private to "nitrate": -. Private to "nitrates": s.
"nitrate" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV · "nitrates" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "nitrate" and "nitrates" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "nitrate" or "nitrates"?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "nitrate" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "nitrates" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #90,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #90,012 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.