scrupulevsscrupulesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#21,465
“scrupule” frequency rank
#20,569
“scrupules” frequency rank
42034
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature scrupule scrupules
Definition Doute ou hésitation que l'on éprouve à la peur de mal faire ou d'être importun. Pluriel de scrupule.

Same sound, different letters: scrupule vs scrupules

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. scrupule runs 8 letters (CCCVCVCV) against scrupules's 9 (CCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
scrupule
9 ch
scrupules

Homophone desk: scrupule vs scrupules

This is the hard kind. scrupule and scrupules are pronounced identically (\skʁy.pyl\) 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) - “scrupule” sits inside “scrupules”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 42034, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

scrupule is recorded at frequency rank #21,465, classified as anoun, pronounced \skʁy.pyl\. scrupules is at rank #20,569, tagged as anoun, pronounced \skʁy.pyl\.

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 42034, this pair ranks #228,696 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of scrupule vs scrupules

Shared letters: celprsu. Private to "scrupule": -. Private to "scrupules": -.

"scrupule" · 8 letters · shape CCCVCVCV  ·  "scrupules" · 9 letters · shape CCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • scrupule ← csrupule · sccrupule · scrpuule · scrrupule · scruplue · scruppule · scrupuel · scrupulle
  • scrupules ← csrupules · sccrupules · scrpuules · scrrupules · scruplues · scruppules · scrupuels · scrupuless

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "scrupule" and "scrupules" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\skʁy.pyl\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "scrupule" vs "scrupules" - which ranks higher?
"scrupules" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,569 in our French list, against #21,465 for "scrupule". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "scrupule" / "scrupules". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "scrupule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "scrupules" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #228,696 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "scrupule" and "scrupules" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "scrupule vs scrupuleux". 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 #228,696 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list