Which to use
“sexes” and “stèles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #8,619
- “sexes” frequency rank
- #40,515
- “stèles” frequency rank
- 49134
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sexes | stèles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de sexe. | Pluriel de stèle. |
Where the eye mixes sexes and stèles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. sexes runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against stèles's 6 (CCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between sexes and stèles
A purely visual mix-up. sexes (\sɛks\) and stèles (\stɛl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49134, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sexes is recorded at frequency rank #8,619, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛks\. stèles is at rank #40,515, tagged as anoun, pronounced \stɛl\.
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 49134, this pair ranks #173,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of sexes vs stèles
Shared letters: es. Private to "sexes": x. Private to "stèles": ltè.
"sexes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "stèles" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- sexes ← esxes · seexs · sexess · sexse · sexxes · ssexes · sxees
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sexes" for "stèles" ever safe?
Frequency check: "sexes" vs "stèles" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "sexes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stèles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #173,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sexes" and "stèles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "socles vs stèles". 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 #173,194 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.