Which to use
“petite” is a noun and “petites” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #290
- “petite” frequency rank
- #948
- “petites” frequency rank
- 1238
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | petite | petites |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Enfant de genre féminin. | Féminin pluriel de petit. |
Same sound, different letters: petite vs petites
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. petite runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against petites's 7 (CVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - petite / petites
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: petite and petites carry the same recorded pronunciation, \pə.tit\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “petite” sits inside “petites”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1238, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
petite is recorded at frequency rank #290, classified as anoun, pronounced \pə.tit\. petites is at rank #948, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pə.tit\.
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 1238, this pair ranks #438,372 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of petite vs petites
Shared letters: eipt. Private to "petite": -. Private to "petites": s.
"petite" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV · "petites" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "petite" for "petites" ever safe?
Frequency check: "petite" vs "petites" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "petite" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "petites" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #438,372 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "petite" and "petites" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "petite vs piétiné". 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 #438,372 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.