péagevspelageWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,238
“péage” frequency rank
#27,177
“pelage” frequency rank
40415
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature péage pelage
Definition Droit qui se lève sur les personnes, les animaux, les marchandises, pour leur passage sur un chemin, sur un pont, sur une rivière, etc. Ensemble de poils recouvrant le corps d'un animal.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set péage and pelage apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
péage
6 ch
pelage

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. péage (\pe.aʒ\) and pelage (\pə.laʒ\) 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 40415, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

péage is recorded at frequency rank #13,238, classified as anoun, pronounced \pe.aʒ\. pelage is at rank #27,177, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pə.laʒ\.

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 40415, this pair ranks #240,687 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of péage vs pelage

Shared letters: aegp. Private to "péage": é. Private to "pelage": l.

"péage" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "pelage" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pelageeplage · pealge · pelaeg · pelagge · pelgae · pellage · pleage · ppelage

Frequency comparison

péage#13,238
pelage#27,177

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "péage" and "pelage" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pe.aʒ\ versus \pə.laʒ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "péage" or "pelage"?
"péage" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,238 in our French list, against #27,177 for "pelage". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering péage vs pelage

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 “péage” 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