tulipevstulipesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#36,629
“tulipe” frequency rank
#36,630
“tulipes” frequency rank
73259
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tulipe tulipes
Definition Plante de la famille des liliacées, à racine bulbeuse, à tige haute, qui porte une belle fleur et dont il existe un très grand nombre de variétés. Pluriel de tulipe.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set tulipe and tulipes apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
tulipe
7 ch
tulipes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. tulipe and tulipes are pronounced identically (\ty.lip\) 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) - “tulipe” sits inside “tulipes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 73259, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tulipe is recorded at frequency rank #36,629, classified as anoun, pronounced \ty.lip\. tulipes is at rank #36,630, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ty.lip\.

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 73259, this pair ranks #41,082 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of tulipe vs tulipes

Shared letters: eilptu. Private to "tulipe": -. Private to "tulipes": s.

"tulipe" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "tulipes" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tulipetluipe · ttulipe · tuilpe · tuliep · tulippe · tullipe · tulpie · utlipe
  • tulipestluipes · ttulipes · tuilpes · tulieps · tulipess · tulippes · tulipse · tullipes

Frequency comparison

tulipe#36,629
tulipes#36,630

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "tulipe" and "tulipes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ty.lip\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "tulipe" or "tulipes"?
"tulipe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,629 in our French list, against #36,630 for "tulipes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering tulipe vs tulipes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “tulipe” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list