cinquième vs cinquièmes, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#2,813
“cinquième” frequency rank: #36,308
“cinquièmes” frequency rank: 39121
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	cinquième	cinquièmes
Definition	Qui vient après le quatrième.	Pluriel de cinquième.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cinquième and cinquièmes apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

cinquième

10 ch

cinquièmes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. cinquième and cinquièmes are pronounced identically (\sɛ̃.kjɛm\) 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) - “cinquième” sits inside “cinquièmes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39121, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cinquième is recorded at frequency rank #2,813, classified as anadj, pronounced \sɛ̃.kjɛm\. cinquièmes is at rank #36,308, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sɛ̃.kjɛm\.

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 39121, this pair ranks #250,359 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cinquième vs cinquièmes

Shared letters: ceimnquè. Private to "cinquième": -. Private to "cinquièmes": s.

"cinquième" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVVCV · "cinquièmes" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVVCVC

Frequency comparison

cinquième#2,813

cinquièmes#36,308

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cinquième" and "cinquièmes" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\sɛ̃.kjɛm\), 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, "cinquième" or "cinquièmes"?

"cinquième" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,813 in our French list, against #36,308 for "cinquièmes". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering cinquième vs cinquièmes

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 “cinquième” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable