Which to use
“rondeau” is a noun and “rondes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,587
- “rondeau” frequency rank
- #11,126
- “rondes” frequency rank
- 53713
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | rondeau | rondes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Petite pièce de poésie composée de treize vers sur deux rimes, avec une pause au cinquième et une au huitième, et dont le premier mot ou les premiers mots appelés clausule se répètent après le huitième vers et après le dernier, sans faire partie des vers. | Féminin pluriel de rond. |
Where the eye mixes rondeau and rondes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. rondeau runs 7 letters (CVCCVVV) against rondes's 6 (CVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses rondeau with rondes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: rondeau is \ʁɔ̃.do\ while rondes is \ʁɔ̃d\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53713, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
rondeau is recorded at frequency rank #42,587, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁɔ̃.do\. rondes is at rank #11,126, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁɔ̃d\.
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 53713, this pair ranks #138,889 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of rondeau vs rondes
Shared letters: denor. Private to "rondeau": au. Private to "rondes": s.
"rondeau" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV · "rondes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "rondeau" and "rondes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "rondeau" or "rondes"?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "rondeau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "rondes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #138,889 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "rondeau" and "rondes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rondeau vs rondeur". 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 #138,889 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.