Which to use
“planète” and “planètes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,492
- “planète” frequency rank
- #7,880
- “planètes” frequency rank
- 9372
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | planète | planètes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Corps céleste plutôt sphérique plus gros qu’un astéroïde, ne produisant pas de lumière propre, en orbite autour d’une ou plusieurs étoiles. | Pluriel de planète. |
Same sound, different letters: planète vs planètes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. planète runs 7 letters (CCVCVCV) against planètes's 8 (CCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - planète / planètes
This is the hard kind. planète and planètes are pronounced identically (\pla.nɛt\) 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) - “planète” sits inside “planètes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9372, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
planète is recorded at frequency rank #1,492, classified as anoun, pronounced \pla.nɛt\. planètes is at rank #7,880, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pla.nɛt\.
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 9372, this pair ranks #416,887 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of planète vs planètes
Shared letters: aelnptè. Private to "planète": -. Private to "planètes": s.
"planète" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV · "planètes" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "planète" and "planètes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "planète" or "planètes" show up more?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "planète" / "planètes". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "planète" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "planètes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,887 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "planète" and "planètes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "planètes vs planqués". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #416,887 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.