aucunvsaucunesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“aucun” and “aucunes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#299
“aucun” frequency rank
#17,345
“aucunes” frequency rank
17644
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature aucun aucunes
Definition Nul ; pas un (associé à une négation : ne, sans …). Féminin pluriel de aucun.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set aucun and aucunes apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
aucun
7 ch
aucunes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. aucun (\o.kœ̃\) and aucunes (\o.kyn\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “aucun” sits inside “aucunes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17644, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

aucun is recorded at frequency rank #299, classified as anadj, pronounced \o.kœ̃\. aucunes is at rank #17,345, tagged as anadj, pronounced \o.kyn\.

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 17644, this pair ranks #382,180 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aucun vs aucunes

Shared letters: acnu. Private to "aucun": -. Private to "aucunes": es.

"aucun" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC  ·  "aucunes" · 7 letters · shape VVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aucunacuun · auccun · aucnu · aucunn · auucn · uacun
  • aucunesacuunes · auccunes · aucnues · aucuens · aucuness · aucunnes · aucunse · auucnes

Frequency comparison

aucun#299
aucunes#17,345

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aucun" and "aucunes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\o.kœ̃\ versus \o.kyn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "aucun" or "aucunes"?
"aucun" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #299 in our French list, against #17,345 for "aucunes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering aucun vs aucunes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “aucun” 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