Which to use
“ambition” and “ambitions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,398
- “ambition” frequency rank
- #8,066
- “ambitions” frequency rank
- 12464
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ambition | ambitions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Recherche d’honneurs, de gloire, d’élévation sociale, de distinction. | Pluriel de ambition. |
Same sound, different letters: ambition vs ambitions
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. ambition runs 8 letters (VCCVCVVC) against ambitions's 9 (VCCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: ambition vs ambitions
This is the hard kind. ambition and ambitions are pronounced identically (\ɑ̃.bi.sjɔ̃\) 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) - “ambition” sits inside “ambitions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12464, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ambition is recorded at frequency rank #4,398, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.bi.sjɔ̃\. ambitions is at rank #8,066, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.bi.sjɔ̃\.
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 12464, this pair ranks #405,161 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ambition vs ambitions
Shared letters: abimnot. Private to "ambition": -. Private to "ambitions": s.
"ambition" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVVC · "ambitions" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "ambition" for "ambitions" ever safe?
Frequency check: "ambition" vs "ambitions" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "ambition" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ambitions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #405,161 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ambition" and "ambitions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "additions vs ambitions". 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 #405,161 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.