Which to use
“phoques” and “plaques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #24,324
- “phoques” frequency rank
- #5,169
- “plaques” frequency rank
- 29493
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | phoques | plaques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de phoque. | Pluriel de plaque. |
Where the eye mixes phoques and plaques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: phoques vs plaques
A purely visual mix-up. phoques (\fɔk\) and plaques (\plak\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29493, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
phoques is recorded at frequency rank #24,324, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔk\. plaques is at rank #5,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced \plak\.
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 29493, this pair ranks #316,334 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of phoques vs plaques
Shared letters: epqsu. Private to "phoques": ho. Private to "plaques": al.
"phoques" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC · "plaques" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "phoques" and "plaques" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "phoques" or "plaques"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "phoques" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plaques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #316,334 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "phoques" and "plaques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "phoques vs piqués". 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 #316,334 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.