Which to use
“sample” and “samples” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #40,483
- “sample” frequency rank
- #47,034
- “samples” frequency rank
- 87517
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sample | samples |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Variante de semple. | Pluriel de sample. |
Same sound, different letters: sample vs samples
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Homophone desk: sample vs samples
This is the hard kind. sample and samples are pronounced identically (\sɑ̃pl\) and both work as anoun. 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) - “sample” sits inside “samples”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 87517, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sample is recorded at frequency rank #40,483, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃pl\. samples is at rank #47,034, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɑ̃pl\.
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 87517, this pair ranks #8,178 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sample vs samples
Shared letters: aelmps. Private to "sample": -. Private to "samples": -.
"sample" · 6 letters · shape CVCCCV · "samples" · 7 letters · shape CVCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "sample" and "samples" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "sample" or "samples"?
After this comparison
"sample" and "samples" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "sample" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "samples" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #8,178 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sample" and "samples" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "samples vs simplet". 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 #8,178 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.