Which to use
“opaque” is an adjective and “orque” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,689
- “opaque” frequency rank
- #46,932
- “orque” frequency rank
- 63621
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | opaque | orque |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas transparent, qui ne laisse pas passer la lumière. | Espèce de grand cétacé à dents à livrée noire et blanche et à nageoire dorsale très haute. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set opaque and orque apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
opaque and orque form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63621, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
opaque is recorded at frequency rank #16,689, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɔ.pak\. orque is at rank #46,932, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔʁk\.
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 63621, this pair ranks #81,067 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "opaque" and "orque" be used interchangeably?
Remembering opaque vs orque
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “opaque”; for a noun, it's “orque”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “opaque” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable