apparencesvsapparentsTell them apart

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

Which to use

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

#10,448
“apparences” frequency rank
#36,705
“apparents” frequency rank
47153
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature apparences apparents
Definition Pluriel de apparence. Masculin pluriel de apparent.

Where the eye mixes apparences and apparents

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

10 ch
apparences
9 ch
apparents

Look-alike desk: apparences vs apparents

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: apparences is \a.pa.ʁɑ̃s\ while apparents is \a.pa.ʁɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 47153, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

apparences is recorded at frequency rank #10,448, 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 47153, this pair ranks #189,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of apparences vs apparents

Shared letters: aenprs. Private to "apparences": c. Private to "apparents": t.

"apparences" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC  ·  "apparents" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • apparencesapaprences · aparences · appaernces · apparecnes · apparencces · apparencess · apparencse · apparenecs
  • apparentsapaprents · aparents · appaernts · apparennts · apparenst · apparentss · apparentts · apparetns

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "apparences" for "apparents" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "apparences" is a noun and "apparents" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "apparences" vs "apparents" - which ranks higher?
"apparences" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,448 in our French list, against #36,705 for "apparents". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "apparences" and "apparents" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "apparences" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "apparents" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #189,148 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "apparences" and "apparents" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apparentées vs apparents". 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 #189,148 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