Which to use
“apparition” and “apparitions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,979
- “apparition” frequency rank
- #13,315
- “apparitions” frequency rank
- 16294
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | apparition | apparitions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action d’apparaître, de se montrer. | Pluriel de apparition. |
Same sound, different letters: apparition vs apparitions
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. apparition runs 10 letters (VCCVCVCVVC) against apparitions's 11 (VCCVCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - apparition / apparitions
This is the hard kind. apparition and apparitions are pronounced identically (\a.pa.ʁi.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) - “apparition” sits inside “apparitions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16294, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
apparition is recorded at frequency rank #2,979, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.pa.ʁi.sjɔ̃\. apparitions is at rank #13,315, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.pa.ʁi.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 16294, this pair ranks #388,490 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of apparition vs apparitions
Shared letters: ainoprt. Private to "apparition": -. Private to "apparitions": s.
"apparition" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVC · "apparitions" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- apparition ← apaprition · aparition · appairtion · appariiton · apparitino · apparitionn · apparitoin · apparittion
- apparitions ← apapritions · aparitions · appairtions · appariitons · apparitinos · apparitionns · apparitionss · apparitiosn
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "apparition" for "apparitions" ever safe?
Which is more common, "apparition" or "apparitions"?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "apparition" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "apparitions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #388,490 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "apparition" and "apparitions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "apparitions vs appartiens". 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 #388,490 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.