Which to use
“steeple” and “stèle” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #47,621
- “steeple” frequency rank
- #25,139
- “stèle” frequency rank
- 72760
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | steeple | stèle |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Course d’athlétisme où les athlètes doivent franchir une distance de 3000 mètres, semé de hautes barrières, dont quelques unes sont au niveau du sol et d’autres sont suivies par un fossé rempli d’eau. | Monument monolithe ayant la forme d’un fût de colonne, d’un obélisque, d’une dalle dressée et sculptée ou peinte, qui sert le plus souvent à marquer l’emplacement d’une sépulture. |
Where the eye mixes steeple and stèle
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. steeple runs 7 letters (CCVVCCV) against stèle's 5 (CCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between steeple and stèle
A purely visual mix-up. steeple (\stipl\) and stèle (\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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 72760, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
steeple is recorded at frequency rank #47,621, classified as anoun, pronounced \stipl\. stèle is at rank #25,139, 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 72760, this pair ranks #42,854 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of steeple vs stèle
Shared letters: elst. Private to "steeple": p. Private to "stèle": è.
"steeple" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCCV · "stèle" · 5 letters · shape CCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- steeple ← seteple · ssteeple · steelpe · steepel · steeplle · steepple · stepele · steple
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "steeple" for "stèle" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "steeple" or "stèle" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "steeple" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "stèle" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #42,854 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "steeple" and "stèle" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "steeple vs Steeve". 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 #42,854 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.