Which to use
“noire” and “noix” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,532
- “noire” frequency rank
- #6,719
- “noix” frequency rank
- 8251
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | noire | noix |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Figure de note (♩) dont la valeur est égale au quart d’une ronde. Elle vaut elle-même deux croches, ou quatre doubles-croches. | Fruit charnu produit par le noyer (Juglans). C’est une drupe composée d’une écale non consommable, le brou (mésocarpe) et d’un noyau qui, une fois lignifié, en constitue la coque (endocarpe). |
Where the eye mixes noire and noix
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between noire and noix
A purely visual mix-up. noire (\nwaʁ\) and noix (\nwa\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8251, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
noire is recorded at frequency rank #1,532, classified as anoun, pronounced \nwaʁ\. noix is at rank #6,719, tagged as anoun, pronounced \nwa\.
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 8251, this pair ranks #420,663 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of noire vs noix
Shared letters: ino. Private to "noire": er. Private to "noix": x.
"noire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "noix" · 4 letters · shape CVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "noire" and "noix" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "noire" or "noix"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "noire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "noix" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,663 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "noire" and "noix" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noix vs nop". 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 #420,663 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.