adolescentevsadolescentsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: adolescente is a noun, adolescents is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“adolescente” is a noun and “adolescents” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#11,514
“adolescente” frequency rank
#6,359
“adolescents” frequency rank
17873
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature adolescente adolescents
Definition Jeune fille pubère qui n’est plus une enfant et qui est en train de devenir une adulte. Masculin pluriel de adolescent.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set adolescente and adolescents apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch
adolescente
11 ch
adolescents

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: adolescente is \a.dɔ.lɛ.sɑ̃t\ while adolescents is \a.dɔ.le.sɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “adolescente” becomes s in “adolescents”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

adolescente is recorded at frequency rank #11,514, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.dɔ.lɛ.sɑ̃t\. adolescents is at rank #6,359, tagged as anadj, pronounced \a.dɔ.le.sɑ̃\.

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 17873, this pair ranks #381,034 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of adolescente vs adolescents

Shared letters: acdelnost. Private to "adolescente": -. Private to "adolescents": -.

"adolescente" · 11 letters · shape VCVCVCCVCCV  ·  "adolescents" · 11 letters · shape VCVCVCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • adolescenteaddolescente · adloescente · adoelscente · adolecsente · adolesccente · adolescenet · adolescennte · adolescentte
  • adolescentsaddolescents · adloescents · adoelscents · adolecsents · adolesccents · adolescennts · adolescenst · adolescentss

Frequency comparison

adolescente#11,514
adolescents#6,359

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "adolescente" and "adolescents" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "adolescente" is a noun and "adolescents" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "adolescente" or "adolescents"?
"adolescents" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,359 in our French list, against #11,514 for "adolescente". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering adolescente vs adolescents

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “adolescente”; for an adjective, it's “adolescents”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “adolescente” 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