paquetvsplaquesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#3,482
“paquet” frequency rank
#5,169
“plaques” frequency rank
8651
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paquet plaques
Definition Emballage, colis, regroupant plusieurs choses. Pluriel de plaque.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set paquet and plaques apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
paquet
7 ch
plaques

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. paquet (\pa.kɛ\) and plaques (\plak\) 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 8651, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paquet is recorded at frequency rank #3,482, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.kɛ\. plaques is at rank #5,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced \plak\.

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 8651, this pair ranks #419,295 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of paquet vs plaques

Shared letters: aepqu. Private to "paquet": t. Private to "plaques": ls.

"paquet" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "plaques" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paquetapquet · paqeut · paqquet · paquett · paqute · pauqet · ppaquet · pqauet
  • plaqueslpaques · palques · plaqeus · plaqques · plaquess · plaquse · plauqes · pllaques

Frequency comparison

paquet#3,482
plaques#5,169

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "paquet" and "plaques" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pa.kɛ\ versus \plak\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "paquet" or "plaques"?
"paquet" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,482 in our French list, against #5,169 for "plaques". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering paquet vs plaques

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “paquet” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list