notablevsnotablesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#8,586
“notable” frequency rank
#10,038
“notables” frequency rank
18624
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature notable notables
Definition Qui est digne d’être signalé. Pluriel de notable.

Same sound, different letters: notable vs notables

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.

7 ch
notable
8 ch
notables

Same sound, different spelling - notable / notables

This is the hard kind. notable and notables are pronounced identically (\nɔ.tabl\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “notable” sits inside “notables”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18624, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

notable is recorded at frequency rank #8,586, classified as anadj, pronounced \nɔ.tabl\. 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 18624, this pair ranks #377,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of notable vs notables

Shared letters: abelnot. Private to "notable": -. Private to "notables": s.

"notable" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV  ·  "notables" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • notablennotable · noatble · notabble · notabel · notablle · notalbe · notbale · nottable
  • notablesnnotables · noatbles · notabbles · notabels · notabless · notablles · notablse · notalbes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "notable" for "notables" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\nɔ.tabl\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary French text, does "notable" or "notables" show up more?
"notable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,586 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

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "notable" 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 #377,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "notable" and "notables" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "notables vs notaires". 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 #377,353 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