péagesvspellesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#22,054
“péages” frequency rank
#29,073
“pelles” frequency rank
51127
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature péages pelles
Definition Pluriel de péage. Pluriel de pelle.

Where the eye mixes péages and pelles

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. péages (CVVCVC) and pelles (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
péages
6 ch
pelles

Look-alike desk: péages vs pelles

A purely visual mix-up. péages (\pe.aʒ\) and pelles (\pɛl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51127, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

péages is recorded at frequency rank #22,054, classified as anoun, pronounced \pe.aʒ\. pelles is at rank #29,073, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɛl\.

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 51127, this pair ranks #157,382 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of péages vs pelles

Shared letters: eps. Private to "péages": agé. Private to "pelles": l.

"péages" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "pelles" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pelles ← eplles · pelels · peles · pelless · pellse · pleles · ppelles

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "péages" and "pelles" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\pe.aʒ\ versus \pɛl\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "péages" or "pelles"?
"péages" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,054 in our French list, against #29,073 for "pelles". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "péages" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pelles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #157,382 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "péages" and "pelles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pelles vs pillée". 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 #157,382 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