Which to use
“polémiquer” is a verb and “polémiques” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #48,724
- “polémiquer” frequency rank
- #11,637
- “polémiques” frequency rank
- 60361
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | polémiquer | polémiques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Entretenir une polémique, débattre d'une manière vive. | Pluriel de polémique. |
Where the eye mixes polémiquer and polémiques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. polémiquer and polémiques follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses polémiquer with polémiques
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: polémiquer is \pɔ.le.mi.ke\ while polémiques is \pɔ.le.mik\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “polémiquer” becomes s in “polémiques”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60361, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
polémiquer is recorded at frequency rank #48,724, classified as averb, pronounced \pɔ.le.mi.ke\. polémiques is at rank #11,637, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɔ.le.mik\.
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 60361, this pair ranks #97,991 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of polémiquer vs polémiques
Shared letters: eilmopqué. Private to "polémiquer": r. Private to "polémiques": s.
"polémiquer" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC · "polémiques" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "polémiquer" for "polémiques" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "polémiquer" or "polémiques" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "polémiquer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "polémiques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #97,991 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "polémiquer" and "polémiques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "polémique vs polémiquer". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #97,991 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.