Which to use
“Pâques” is a name and “pique” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,359
- “Pâques” frequency rank
- #5,061
- “pique” frequency rank
- 12420
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Pâques | pique |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fête que les chrétiens solennisent tous les ans en mémoire de la résurrection de Jésus-Christ, et qu’ils célèbrent le premier dimanche qui suit la pleine lune de l’équinoxe de printemps. | Sorte d’arme formée d’un long bois dont le bout est garni d’un fer plat et pointu. |
Where the eye mixes Pâques and pique
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: Pâques vs pique
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Pâques is \pak\ while pique is \pik\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12420, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
Pâques is recorded at frequency rank #7,359, classified as aname, pronounced \pak\. pique is at rank #5,061, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pik\.
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 12420, this pair ranks #405,344 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of Pâques vs pique
Shared letters: epqu. Private to "Pâques": sâ. Private to "pique": i.
"Pâques" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "pique" · 5 letters · shape CVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pique ← ipque · piqeu · piqque · piuqe · ppique · pqiue
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "Pâques" and "pique" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "Pâques" or "pique" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "Pâques" and "pique" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "Pâques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,344 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Pâques" and "pique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Pâques vs pasque". 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 #405,344 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.