Which to use
“plombé” is an adjective and “plombs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #35,644
- “plombé” frequency rank
- #15,719
- “plombs” frequency rank
- 51363
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | plombé | plombs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est couvert de plomb, qui contient du plomb ou qui est composé de plomb. | Pluriel de plomb. |
Where the eye mixes plombé and plombs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: plombé vs plombs
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: plombé is \plɔ̃.be\ while plombs is \plɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - é in “plombé” becomes s in “plombs”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51363, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
plombé is recorded at frequency rank #35,644, classified as anadj, pronounced \plɔ̃.be\. plombs is at rank #15,719, tagged as anoun, pronounced \plɔ̃\.
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 51363, this pair ranks #155,598 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of plombé vs plombs
Shared letters: blmop. Private to "plombé": é. Private to "plombs": s.
"plombé" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCV · "plombs" · 6 letters · shape CCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- plombs ← lpombs · pllombs · plmobs · plobms · plombbs · plombss · plommbs · plomsb
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "plombé" for "plombs" ever safe?
Which is more common, "plombé" or "plombs"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "plombé" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "plombs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #155,598 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "plombé" and "plombs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plombé vs plomber". 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 #155,598 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.