Which to use
“pigeon” and “pignons” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,634
- “pigeon” frequency rank
- #27,910
- “pignons” frequency rank
- 39544
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pigeon | pignons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Oiseau de la famille des columbidés vivant en plaine et dans les villes, et se nourrissant principalement de graines. | Pluriel de pignon. |
Where the eye mixes pigeon and pignons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. pigeon runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against pignons's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between pigeon and pignons
A purely visual mix-up. pigeon (\pi.ʒɔ̃\) and pignons (\pi.ɲɔ̃\) 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 39544, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pigeon is recorded at frequency rank #11,634, classified as anoun, pronounced \pi.ʒɔ̃\. pignons is at rank #27,910, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pi.ɲɔ̃\.
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 39544, this pair ranks #247,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pigeon vs pignons
Shared letters: ginop. Private to "pigeon": e. Private to "pignons": s.
"pigeon" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "pignons" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pigeon" for "pignons" ever safe?
Frequency check: "pigeon" vs "pignons" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "pigeon" and "pignons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "pigeon" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pignons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #247,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pigeon" and "pignons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pianos vs pignons". 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 #247,172 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.