bonnesvsbonsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#975
“bonnes” frequency rank
#933
“bons” frequency rank
1908
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bonnes bons
Definition Féminin pluriel de bon. Masculin pluriel de bon.

Where the eye mixes bonnes and bons

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

6 ch
bonnes
4 ch
bons

Look-alike desk: bonnes vs bons

A purely visual mix-up. bonnes (\bɔn\) and bons (\bɔ̃\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1908, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bonnes is recorded at frequency rank #975, classified as anadj, pronounced \bɔn\. bons is at rank #933, tagged as anadj, pronounced \bɔ̃\.

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 1908, this pair ranks #437,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of bonnes vs bons

Shared letters: bnos. Private to "bonnes": e. Private to "bons": -.

"bonnes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "bons" · 4 letters · shape CVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bonnesbbonnes · bnones · bonens · bonness · bonnse · obnnes
  • bonsbbons · bnos · bonns · bonss · bosn · obns

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "bonnes" for "bons" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\bɔn\ versus \bɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "bonnes" vs "bons" - which ranks higher?
"bons" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #933 in our French list, against #975 for "bonnes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "bonnes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "bons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #437,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "bonnes" and "bons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "bonnes vs bordés". 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 #437,157 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