Which to use
“pastèque” and “pastèques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,172
- “pastèque” frequency rank
- #49,846
- “pastèques” frequency rank
- 77018
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pastèque | pastèques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Plante de la famille des cucurbitacées, cultivée pour ses fruits, de nom taxinomique Citrullus lanatus. | Pluriel de pastèque. |
Same sound, different letters: pastèque vs pastèques
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. pastèque runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVV) against pastèques's 9 (CVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - pastèque / pastèques
This is the hard kind. pastèque and pastèques are pronounced identically (\pas.tɛk\) and both work as anoun. 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) - “pastèque” sits inside “pastèques”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77018, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pastèque is recorded at frequency rank #27,172, classified as anoun, pronounced \pas.tɛk\. pastèques is at rank #49,846, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pas.tɛk\.
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 77018, this pair ranks #29,525 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of pastèque vs pastèques
Shared letters: aepqstuè. Private to "pastèque": -. Private to "pastèques": -.
"pastèque" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVV · "pastèques" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pastèque" for "pastèques" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pastèque" vs "pastèques" - which ranks higher?
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 "pastèque" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pastèques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #29,525 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pastèque" and "pastèques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pasque vs pastèque". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #29,525 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.