paradoxalvsparadoxaleWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#18,820
“paradoxal” frequency rank
#27,902
“paradoxale” frequency rank
46722
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paradoxal paradoxale
Definition Qui tient du paradoxe. Féminin singulier de paradoxal.

Same sound, different letters: paradoxal vs paradoxale

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters.

9 ch
paradoxal
10 ch
paradoxale

Ear matches; page differs - paradoxal and paradoxale

This is the hard kind. paradoxal and paradoxale are pronounced identically (\pa.ʁa.dɔk.sal\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “paradoxal” sits inside “paradoxale”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46722, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paradoxal is recorded at frequency rank #18,820, classified as anadj, pronounced \pa.ʁa.dɔk.sal\. paradoxale is at rank #27,902, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pa.ʁa.dɔk.sal\.

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 46722, this pair ranks #192,642 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of paradoxal vs paradoxale

Shared letters: adloprx. Private to "paradoxal": -. Private to "paradoxale": e.

"paradoxal" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC  ·  "paradoxale" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • paradoxalapradoxal · paardoxal · paraddoxal · paradoaxl · paradoxall · paradoxla · paradoxxal · paradxoal
  • paradoxaleapradoxale · paardoxale · paraddoxale · paradoaxle · paradoxael · paradoxalle · paradoxlae · paradoxxale

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "paradoxal" and "paradoxale" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\pa.ʁa.dɔk.sal\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "paradoxal" vs "paradoxale" - which ranks higher?
"paradoxal" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,820 in our French list, against #27,902 for "paradoxale". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "paradoxal" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "paradoxale" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #192,642 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paradoxal" and "paradoxale" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paradoxal vs paradoxes". 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 #192,642 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list