Which to use
“scandales” is a noun and “scandaleux” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #12,050
- “scandales” frequency rank
- #11,300
- “scandaleux” frequency rank
- 23350
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | scandales | scandaleux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de scandale. | Qui cause du scandale, qui est un mauvais exemple. |
Where the eye mixes scandales and scandaleux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. scandales runs 9 letters (CCVCCVCVC) against scandaleux's 10 (CCVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between scandales and scandaleux
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: scandales is \skɑ̃.dal\ while scandaleux is \skɑ̃.da.lø\. 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 23350, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
scandales is recorded at frequency rank #12,050, classified as anoun, pronounced \skɑ̃.dal\. scandaleux is at rank #11,300, tagged as anadj, pronounced \skɑ̃.da.lø\.
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 23350, this pair ranks #353,006 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of scandales vs scandaleux
Shared letters: acdelns. Private to "scandales": -. Private to "scandaleux": ux.
"scandales" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCVC · "scandaleux" · 10 letters · shape CCVCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- scandales ← csandales · sacndales · scadnales · scanadles · scandaels · scandaless · scandalles · scandalse
- scandaleux ← csandaleux · sacndaleux · scadnaleux · scanadleux · scandaelux · scandaleuxx · scandalexu · scandalleux
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "scandales" for "scandaleux" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "scandales" or "scandaleux" show up more?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "scandales" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "scandaleux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #353,006 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "scandales" and "scandaleux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scandal vs scandales". 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 #353,006 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.