Which to use
“quelles” and “quelques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,932
- “quelles” frequency rank
- #142
- “quelques” frequency rank
- 2074
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | quelles | quelques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de quel. | Pluriel de l’adjectif indéfini quelque. Un petit nombre de. — Note d’usage : Ce mot peut s’utiliser comme un numéral après un cardinal et et. |
Where the eye mixes quelles and quelques
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses quelles with quelques
A purely visual mix-up. quelles (\kɛl\) and quelques (\kɛlk\) 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 2074, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
quelles is recorded at frequency rank #1,932, classified as anadj, pronounced \kɛl\. quelques is at rank #142, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɛlk\.
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 2074, this pair ranks #436,818 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of quelles vs quelques
Shared letters: elqsu. Private to "quelles": -. Private to "quelques": -.
"quelles" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "quelques" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "quelles" and "quelques" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "quelles" or "quelques"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "quelles" and "quelques" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "quelles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "quelques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #436,818 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "quelles" and "quelques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "quelles vs quenelles". 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 #436,818 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.