Which to use
“slave” and “slaves” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,563
- “slave” frequency rank
- #19,408
- “slaves” frequency rank
- 36971
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | slave | slaves |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Caractéristique des peuples d’Europe centrale ou orientale dont la langue fait partie du groupe des langues slaves. | Pluriel de slave. |
Same sound, different letters: slave vs slaves
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - slave / slaves
This is the hard kind. slave and slaves are pronounced identically (\slav\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “slave” sits inside “slaves”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36971, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
slave is recorded at frequency rank #17,563, classified as anadj, pronounced \slav\. slaves is at rank #19,408, tagged as anadj, pronounced \slav\.
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 36971, this pair ranks #265,803 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of slave vs slaves
Shared letters: aelsv. Private to "slave": -. Private to "slaves": -.
"slave" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV · "slaves" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "slave" and "slaves" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "slave" vs "slaves" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "slave" / "slaves". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "slave" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "slaves" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #265,803 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "slave" and "slaves" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "slave vs stase". 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 #265,803 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.