Which to use
“oreilles” and “oreillons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,941
- “oreilles” frequency rank
- #48,695
- “oreillons” frequency rank
- 51636
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | oreilles | oreillons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de oreille. | Infection virale des glandes parotides provoquant des douleurs aux oreilles. |
Where the eye mixes oreilles and oreillons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. oreilles runs 8 letters (VCVVCCVC) against oreillons's 9 (VCVVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses oreilles with oreillons
A purely visual mix-up. oreilles (\ɔ.ʁɛj\) and oreillons (\ɔ.ʁɛj.ɔ̃\) 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 51636, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
oreilles is recorded at frequency rank #2,941, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.ʁɛj\. oreillons is at rank #48,695, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.ʁɛj.ɔ̃\.
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 51636, this pair ranks #153,547 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of oreilles vs oreillons
Shared letters: eilors. Private to "oreilles": -. Private to "oreillons": n.
"oreilles" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCCVC · "oreillons" · 9 letters · shape VCVVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "oreilles" and "oreillons" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "oreilles" vs "oreillons" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "oreilles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "oreillons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #153,547 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "oreilles" and "oreillons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oreillers vs oreillons". 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 #153,547 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.