Which to use
“pédophile” and “pédophiles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,981
- “pédophile” frequency rank
- #18,572
- “pédophiles” frequency rank
- 34553
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pédophile | pédophiles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Attiré sexuellement par les enfants impubères. | Pluriel de pédophile. |
Same sound, different letters: pédophile vs pédophiles
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. pédophile runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVCV) against pédophiles's 10 (CVCVCCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - pédophile and pédophiles
This is the hard kind. pédophile and pédophiles are pronounced identically (\pe.dɔ.fil\) 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) - “pédophile” sits inside “pédophiles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34553, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pédophile is recorded at frequency rank #15,981, classified as anadj, pronounced \pe.dɔ.fil\. pédophiles is at rank #18,572, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pe.dɔ.fil\.
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 34553, this pair ranks #282,989 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pédophile vs pédophiles
Shared letters: dehilopé. Private to "pédophile": -. Private to "pédophiles": s.
"pédophile" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCV · "pédophiles" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pédophile" and "pédophiles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "pédophile" or "pédophiles" show up more?
Useful next steps
"pédophile" and "pédophiles" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "pédophile" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pédophiles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #282,989 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pédophile" and "pédophiles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pédophiles vs pédophilie". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #282,989 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.