noblesvsnotablesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#7,466
“nobles” frequency rank
#10,038
“notables” frequency rank
17504
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nobles notables
Definition Pluriel de noble. Pluriel de notable.

Where the eye mixes nobles and notables

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. nobles runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against notables's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
nobles
8 ch
notables

Look-alike desk: nobles vs notables

A purely visual mix-up. nobles (\nɔbl\) and notables (\nɔ.tabl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17504, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nobles is recorded at frequency rank #7,466, classified as anadj, pronounced \nɔbl\. notables is at rank #10,038, tagged as anadj, pronounced \nɔ.tabl\.

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 17504, this pair ranks #382,849 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of nobles vs notables

Shared letters: belnos. Private to "nobles": -. Private to "notables": at.

"nobles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "notables" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nobles ← nboles · nnobles · nobbles · nobels · nobless · noblles · noblse · nolbes
  • notables ← nnotables · noatbles · notabbles · notabels · notabless · notablles · notablse · notalbes

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "nobles" and "notables" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\nɔbl\ versus \nɔ.tabl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "nobles" or "notables"?
"nobles" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,466 in our French list, against #10,038 for "notables". 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 "nobles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "notables" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #382,849 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nobles" and "notables" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nobles vs noués". 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 #382,849 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