Which to use
“pistolet” and “pistolets” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,597
- “pistolet” frequency rank
- #19,941
- “pistolets” frequency rank
- 28538
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pistolet | pistolets |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Arme à feu courte et portative. | Pluriel de pistolet. |
Same sound, different letters: pistolet vs pistolets
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. pistolet runs 8 letters (CVCCVCVC) against pistolets's 9 (CVCCVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - pistolet / pistolets
This is the hard kind. pistolet and pistolets are pronounced identically (\pis.tɔ.lɛ\) and both work as anoun. 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) - “pistolet” sits inside “pistolets”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28538, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pistolet is recorded at frequency rank #8,597, classified as anoun, pronounced \pis.tɔ.lɛ\. pistolets is at rank #19,941, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pis.tɔ.lɛ\.
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 28538, this pair ranks #322,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pistolet vs pistolets
Shared letters: eilopst. Private to "pistolet": -. Private to "pistolets": -.
"pistolet" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC · "pistolets" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "pistolet" and "pistolets" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "pistolet" or "pistolets" show up more?
Useful next steps
"pistolet" and "pistolets" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "pistolet" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pistolets" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #322,172 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pistolet" and "pistolets" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pistoles vs pistolets". 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 #322,172 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.