Which to use
“pathologie” is a noun and “pathologique” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,635
- “pathologie” frequency rank
- #21,418
- “pathologique” frequency rank
- 34053
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pathologie | pathologique |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie de la médecine qui traite de la nature, des causes et des symptômes des maladies. | Qui appartient à la pathologie. |
Where the eye mixes pathologie and pathologique
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. pathologie runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVCVV) against pathologique's 12 (CVCCVCVCVCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between pathologie and pathologique
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: pathologie is \pa.tɔ.lɔ.ʒi\ while pathologique is \pa.tɔ.lɔ.ʒik\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34053, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pathologie is recorded at frequency rank #12,635, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.tɔ.lɔ.ʒi\. pathologique is at rank #21,418, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pa.tɔ.lɔ.ʒik\.
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 34053, this pair ranks #286,484 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pathologie vs pathologique
Shared letters: aeghilopt. Private to "pathologie": -. Private to "pathologique": qu.
"pathologie" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVV · "pathologique" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- pathologie ← apthologie · pahtologie · pathhologie · pathloogie · patholgoie · pathollogie · pathologei · pathologgie
- pathologique ← apthologique · pahtologique · pathhologique · pathloogique · patholgoique · pathollogique · pathologgique · pathologiqeu
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pathologie" for "pathologique" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pathologie" or "pathologique" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "pathologie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pathologique" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #286,484 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pathologie" and "pathologique" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pathologique vs pathologiques". 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 #286,484 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.