cohérencevscohérentesWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: cohérence is a noun, cohérentes is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cohérence” is a noun and “cohérentes” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,796
“cohérence” frequency rank
#33,174
“cohérentes” frequency rank
39970
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cohérence cohérentes
Definition Union complète entre divers éléments d’un corps. Féminin pluriel de cohérent.

Where the eye mixes cohérence and cohérentes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. cohérence runs 9 letters (CVCVCVCCV) against cohérentes's 10 (CVCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
cohérence
10 ch
cohérentes

Why the eye confuses cohérence with cohérentes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cohérence is \kɔ.e.ʁɑ̃s\ while cohérentes is \kɔ.e.ʁɑ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39970, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cohérence is recorded at frequency rank #6,796, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.e.ʁɑ̃s\. cohérentes is at rank #33,174, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.e.ʁɑ̃t\.

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 39970, this pair ranks #243,979 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of cohérence vs cohérentes

Shared letters: cehnoré. Private to "cohérence": -. Private to "cohérentes": st.

"cohérence" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV  ·  "cohérentes" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "cohérence" and "cohérentes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cohérence" is a noun and "cohérentes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "cohérence" vs "cohérentes" - which ranks higher?
"cohérence" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,796 in our French list, against #33,174 for "cohérentes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "cohérence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "cohérentes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #243,979 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "cohérence" and "cohérentes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cohérentes vs cohérents". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #243,979 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