Which to use
“pathétique” and “pathétiques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,007
- “pathétique” frequency rank
- #30,300
- “pathétiques” frequency rank
- 38307
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pathétique | pathétiques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui émeut ; qui est émouvant. | Pluriel de pathétique. |
Same sound, different letters: pathétique vs pathétiques
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. pathétique runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVCVV) against pathétiques's 11 (CVCCVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - pathétique and pathétiques
This is the hard kind. pathétique and pathétiques are pronounced identically (\pa.te.tik\) 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) - “pathétique” sits inside “pathétiques”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38307, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pathétique is recorded at frequency rank #8,007, classified as anadj, pronounced \pa.te.tik\. pathétiques is at rank #30,300, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pa.te.tik\.
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 38307, this pair ranks #256,186 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pathétique vs pathétiques
Shared letters: aehipqtué. Private to "pathétique": -. Private to "pathétiques": s.
"pathétique" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVV · "pathétiques" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pathétique" for "pathétiques" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pathétique" or "pathétiques" show up more?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "pathétique" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pathétiques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #256,186 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
Confusion rank #256,186 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.