Which to use
“circonstance” and “circonstances” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,014
- “circonstance” frequency rank
- #2,814
- “circonstances” frequency rank
- 13828
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | circonstance | circonstances |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Particularité qui accompagne et distingue un fait, une situation, etc. | Pluriel de circonstance. |
Same sound, different letters: circonstance vs circonstances
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 12 letters. circonstance runs 12 letters (CVCCVCCCVCCV) against circonstances's 13 (CVCCVCCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - circonstance and circonstances
This is the hard kind. circonstance and circonstances are pronounced identically (\siʁ.kɔ̃s.tɑ̃s\) 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) - “circonstance” sits inside “circonstances”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13828, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
circonstance is recorded at frequency rank #11,014, classified as anoun, pronounced \siʁ.kɔ̃s.tɑ̃s\. circonstances is at rank #2,814, tagged as anoun, pronounced \siʁ.kɔ̃s.tɑ̃s\.
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 13828, this pair ranks #399,390 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of circonstance vs circonstances
Shared letters: aceinorst. Private to "circonstance": -. Private to "circonstances": -.
"circonstance" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVCCV · "circonstances" · 13 letters · shape CVCCVCCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- circonstance ← ccirconstance · cicronstance · circconstance · circnostance · circonnstance · circonsatnce · circonsstance · circonstacne
- circonstances ← ccirconstances · cicronstances · circconstances · circnostances · circonnstances · circonsatnces · circonsstances · circonstacnes
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "circonstance" and "circonstances" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "circonstance" or "circonstances" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "circonstance" / "circonstances". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "circonstance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "circonstances" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,390 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #399,390 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.