Which to use
“Pâques” is a name and “piqués” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #7,359
- “Pâques” frequency rank
- #48,104
- “piqués” frequency rank
- 55463
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | Pâques | piqués |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Masculin pluriel de piqué. |
Where the eye mixes Pâques and piqués
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses Pâques with piqués
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: Pâques is \pak\ while piqués is \pi.ke\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (name vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55463, 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\. piqués is at rank #48,104, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pi.ke\.
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 55463, this pair ranks #127,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of Pâques vs piqués
Shared letters: pqsu. Private to "Pâques": eâ. Private to "piqués": ié.
"Pâques" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "piqués" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "Pâques" and "piqués" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "Pâques" vs "piqués" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "Pâques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "piqués" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #127,283 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "Pâques" and "piqués" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pieuses vs piqués". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #127,283 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.