Which to use
“oraux” is an adjective and “orque” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #24,312
- “oraux” frequency rank
- #46,932
- “orque” frequency rank
- 71244
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | oraux | orque |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de oral. | Espèce de grand cétacé à dents à livrée noire et blanche et à nageoire dorsale très haute. |
Where the eye mixes oraux and orque
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. oraux (VCVVC) and orque (VCCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: oraux vs orque
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: oraux is \ɔ.ʁo\ while orque is \ɔʁk\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71244, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
oraux is recorded at frequency rank #24,312, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɔ.ʁo\. 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 71244, this pair ranks #48,284 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of oraux vs orque
Shared letters: oru. Private to "oraux": ax. Private to "orque": eq.
"oraux" · 5 letters · shape VCVVC · "orque" · 5 letters · shape VCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "oraux" for "orque" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "oraux" or "orque" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "oraux" and "orque" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "oraux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "orque" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #48,284 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "oraux" and "orque" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "orme vs orque". 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 #48,284 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.