variétésvsvarietyWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,571
“variétés” frequency rank
#41,585
“variety” frequency rank
48156
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature variétés variety
Definition Pluriel de variété. Variété, type, catégorie.

Where the eye mixes variétés and variety

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. variétés runs 8 letters (CVCVVCVC) against variety's 7 (CVCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
variétés
7 ch
variety

Why the eye confuses variétés with variety

A purely visual mix-up. variétés (\va.ʁje.te\) and variety (\vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti\) 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 48156, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

variétés is recorded at frequency rank #6,571, classified as anoun, pronounced \va.ʁje.te\. variety is at rank #41,585, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti\.

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 48156, this pair ranks #181,189 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of variétés vs variety

Shared letters: airtv. Private to "variétés": sé. Private to "variety": ey.

"variétés" · 8 letters · shape CVCVVCVC  ·  "variety" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • variety ← avriety · vairety · vareity · varietty · varietyy · varieyt · varitey · varriety

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "variétés" for "variety" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\va.ʁje.te\ versus \vəˈɹaɪ.ɪ.ti\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "variétés" or "variety"?
"variétés" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,571 in our French list, against #41,585 for "variety". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "variétés" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "variety" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #181,189 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "variétés" and "variety" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vanity vs variety". 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 #181,189 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