Which to use
“africaine” and “africains” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,035
- “africaine” frequency rank
- #3,731
- “africains” frequency rank
- 7766
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | africaine | africains |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de africain. | Masculin pluriel de africain. |
Where the eye mixes africaine and africains
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. africaine (VCCVCVVCV) and africains (VCCVCVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between africaine and africains
A purely visual mix-up. africaine (\a.fʁi.kɛn\) and africains (\a.fʁi.kɛ̃\) 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 a single letter - e in “africaine” becomes s in “africains”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7766, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
africaine is recorded at frequency rank #4,035, classified as anadj, pronounced \a.fʁi.kɛn\. africains is at rank #3,731, tagged as anadj, pronounced \a.fʁi.kɛ̃\.
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 7766, this pair ranks #422,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of africaine vs africains
Shared letters: acfinr. Private to "africaine": e. Private to "africains": s.
"africaine" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVVCV · "africains" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "africaine" for "africains" ever safe?
Which is more common, "africaine" or "africains"?
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 "africaine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "africains" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,183 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "africaine" and "africains" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "africaine vs african". 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 #422,183 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.