apparencevsapparentsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#3,659
“apparence” frequency rank
#36,705
“apparents” frequency rank
40364
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apparence apparents
Definition Ce qui paraît extérieurement. Masculin pluriel de apparent.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set apparence and apparents apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
apparence
9 ch
apparents

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: apparence is \a.pa.ʁɑ̃s\ while apparents is \a.pa.ʁɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apparence is recorded at frequency rank #3,659, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.pa.ʁɑ̃s\. apparents is at rank #36,705, tagged as anadj, pronounced \a.pa.ʁɑ̃\.

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 40364, this pair ranks #241,080 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apparence vs apparents

Shared letters: aenpr. Private to "apparence": c. Private to "apparents": st.

"apparence" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV  ·  "apparents" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apparenceapaprence · aparence · appaernce · apparecne · apparencce · apparenec · apparennce · apparnece
  • apparentsapaprents · aparents · appaernts · apparennts · apparenst · apparentss · apparentts · apparetns

Frequency comparison

apparence#3,659
apparents#36,705

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "apparence" and "apparents" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "apparence" is a noun and "apparents" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "apparence" or "apparents"?
"apparence" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,659 in our French list, against #36,705 for "apparents". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering apparence vs apparents

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “apparence”; for an adjective, it's “apparents”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “apparence” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list