colèrevscolèresWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#1,857
“colère” frequency rank
#27,737
“colères” frequency rank
29594
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature colère colères
Definition Réaction vive et parfois violente contre ce qui blesse un sentiment. Pluriel de colère.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set colère and colères apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
colère
7 ch
colères

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: colère and colères carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kɔ.lɛʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “colère” sits inside “colères”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29594, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

colère is recorded at frequency rank #1,857, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.lɛʁ\. colères is at rank #27,737, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kɔ.lɛʁ\.

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 29594, this pair ranks #315,686 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of colère vs colères

Shared letters: celorè. Private to "colère": -. Private to "colères": s.

"colère" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "colères" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC

Frequency comparison

colère#1,857
colères#27,737

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "colère" and "colères" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "colère" is a noun and "colères" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "colère" or "colères"?
"colère" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,857 in our French list, against #27,737 for "colères". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering colère vs colères

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “colère”; for an adjective, it's “colères”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “colère” 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