Which to use
“oracle” and “oracles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #14,526
- “oracle” frequency rank
- #45,768
- “oracles” frequency rank
- 60294
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | oracle | oracles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Selon la croyance des Anciens, réponse d’une divinité que l’on venait consulter en un lieu sacré, et dont un interprète inspiré devait dévoiler le sens, sans parvenir toujours à l’éclairer. | Pluriel de oracle. |
Where the eye mixes oracle and oracles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses oracle with oracles
A purely visual mix-up. oracle (\ɔ.ʁɑkl\) and oracles (\ɔ.ʁakl\) 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 extra letter(s) - “oracle” sits inside “oracles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60294, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
oracle is recorded at frequency rank #14,526, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.ʁɑkl\. oracles is at rank #45,768, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.ʁakl\.
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 60294, this pair ranks #98,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of oracle vs oracles
Shared letters: acelor. Private to "oracle": -. Private to "oracles": s.
"oracle" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV · "oracles" · 7 letters · shape VCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "oracle" for "oracles" ever safe?
Which is more common, "oracle" or "oracles"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "oracle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "oracles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #98,391 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "oracle" and "oracles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oracles vs orioles". 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 #98,391 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.