aucunvsaucunsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#299
“aucun” frequency rank
#12,311
“aucuns” frequency rank
12610
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

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

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
aucun
6 ch
aucuns

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. aucun and aucuns are pronounced identically (\o.kœ̃\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “aucun” sits inside “aucuns”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 12610, 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\. aucuns is at rank #12,311, tagged as anadj, pronounced \o.kœ̃\.

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 12610, this pair ranks #404,531 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of aucun vs aucuns

Shared letters: acnu. Private to "aucun": -. Private to "aucuns": s.

"aucun" · 5 letters · shape VVCVC  ·  "aucuns" · 6 letters · shape VVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • aucunacuun · auccun · aucnu · aucunn · auucn · uacun
  • aucunsacuuns · auccuns · aucnus · aucunns · aucunss · aucusn · auucns · uacuns

Frequency comparison

aucun#299
aucuns#12,311

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "aucun" and "aucuns" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\o.kœ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "aucun" or "aucuns"?
"aucun" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #299 in our French list, against #12,311 for "aucuns". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering aucun vs aucuns

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