orduresvsorquesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#10,202
“ordures” frequency rank
#32,943
“orques” frequency rank
43145
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ordures orques
Definition Pluriel de ordure. Pluriel de orque.

Where the eye mixes ordures and orques

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

7 ch
ordures
6 ch
orques

Look-alike desk: ordures vs orques

A purely visual mix-up. ordures (\ɔʁ.dyʁ\) and orques (\ɔʁk\) 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 43145, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ordures is recorded at frequency rank #10,202, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔʁ.dyʁ\. orques is at rank #32,943, 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 43145, this pair ranks #220,292 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of ordures vs orques

Shared letters: eorsu. Private to "ordures": d. Private to "orques": q.

"ordures" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "orques" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ordures ← odrures · orddures · ordrues · orduers · orduress · ordurres · ordurse · orrdures
  • orques ← oqrues · orqeus · orqques · orquess · orquse · orrques · oruqes

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ordures" for "orques" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɔʁ.dyʁ\ versus \ɔʁk\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "ordures" or "orques"?
"ordures" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,202 in our French list, against #32,943 for "orques". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ordures" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "orques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #220,292 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ordures" and "orques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "orque vs orques". 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 #220,292 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