orbitesvsorgiesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,550
“orbites” frequency rank
#42,504
“orgies” frequency rank
70054
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature orbites orgies
Definition Pluriel de orbite. Pluriel de orgie.

Where the eye mixes orbites and orgies

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. orbites runs 7 letters (VCCVCVC) against orgies's 6 (VCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
orbites
6 ch
orgies

Visual trap between orbites and orgies

A purely visual mix-up. orbites (\ɔʁ.bit\) and orgies (\ɔʁ.ʒi\) 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 70054, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

orbites is recorded at frequency rank #27,550, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔʁ.bit\. orgies is at rank #42,504, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔʁ.ʒi\.

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 70054, this pair ranks #52,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of orbites vs orgies

Shared letters: eiors. Private to "orbites": bt. Private to "orgies": g.

"orbites" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "orgies" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • orbites ← obrites · orbbites · orbiets · orbitess · orbitse · orbittes · orbties · oribtes
  • orgies ← ogries · orgeis · orggies · orgiess · orgise · origes · orrgies · rogies

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "orbites" for "orgies" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɔʁ.bit\ versus \ɔʁ.ʒi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "orbites" or "orgies" show up more?
"orbites" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,550 in our French list, against #42,504 for "orgies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "orbites" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "orgies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #52,828 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "orbites" and "orgies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ordis vs orgies". 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 #52,828 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