respectable vs respectables

Which to use

“respectable” and “respectables” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#12,238
“respectable” frequency rank: #28,328
“respectables” frequency rank: 40566
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	respectable	respectables
Definition	Qui mérite du respect.	Pluriel de respectable.

Same sound, different letters: respectable vs respectables

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 11 letters. respectable runs 11 letters (CVCCVCCVCCV) against respectables's 12 (CVCCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch

respectable

12 ch

respectables

Ear matches; page differs - respectable and respectables

This is the hard kind. respectable and respectables are pronounced identically (\ʁɛs.pɛk.tabl\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “respectable” sits inside “respectables”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40566, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

respectable is recorded at frequency rank #12,238, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁɛs.pɛk.tabl\. respectables is at rank #28,328, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁɛs.pɛk.tabl\.

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 40566, this pair ranks #239,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of respectable vs respectables

Shared letters: abcelprst. Private to "respectable": -. Private to "respectables": -.

"respectable" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCV · "respectables" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

respectable ← erspectable · repsectable · resepctable · respcetable · respecatble · respecctable · respectabble · respectabel
respectables ← erspectables · repsectables · resepctables · respcetables · respecatbles · respecctables · respectabbles · respectabels

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "respectable" and "respectables" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\ʁɛs.pɛk.tabl\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.

Which is more common, "respectable" or "respectables"?

"respectable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,238 in our French list, against #28,328 for "respectables". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

Full dictionary entry for "respectable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
Full dictionary entry for "respectables" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
This pair ranks #239,551 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
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 #239,551 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.