Which to use
“oreiller” and “oreilles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #13,026
- “oreiller” frequency rank
- #2,941
- “oreilles” frequency rank
- 15967
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | oreiller | oreilles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Coussin qui sert à soutenir la tête quand on est couché. | Pluriel de oreille. |
Where the eye mixes oreiller and oreilles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: oreiller vs oreilles
A purely visual mix-up. oreiller (\ɔ.ʁɛ.je\) and oreilles (\ɔ.ʁɛj\) 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 a single letter - r in “oreiller” becomes s in “oreilles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15967, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
oreiller is recorded at frequency rank #13,026, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.ʁɛ.je\. oreilles is at rank #2,941, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.ʁɛj\.
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 15967, this pair ranks #390,035 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of oreiller vs oreilles
Shared letters: eilor. Private to "oreiller": -. Private to "oreilles": s.
"oreiller" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVC · "oreilles" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "oreiller" for "oreilles" ever safe?
Which is more common, "oreiller" or "oreilles"?
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 "oreiller" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "oreilles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #390,035 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "oreiller" and "oreilles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oreiller vs osciller". 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 #390,035 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.