collectionvscollectionsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,512
“collection” frequency rank
#4,736
“collections” frequency rank
6248
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature collection collections
Definition Réunion de plusieurs objets qui ont ensemble quelque rapport. Pluriel de collection.

Same sound, different letters: collection vs collections

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. collection runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVVC) against collections's 11 (CVCCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
collection
11 ch
collections

Ear matches; page differs - collection and collections

This is the hard kind. collection and collections are pronounced identically (\kɔ.lɛk.sjɔ̃\) 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) - “collection” sits inside “collections”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6248, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

collection is recorded at frequency rank #1,512, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.lɛk.sjɔ̃\. collections is at rank #4,736, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.lɛk.sjɔ̃\.

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 6248, this pair ranks #426,749 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of collection vs collections

Shared letters: ceilnot. Private to "collection": -. Private to "collections": s.

"collection" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC  ·  "collections" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • collection ← ccollection · clolection · colection · colelction · collcetion · collecction · colleciton · collectino
  • collections ← ccollections · clolections · colections · colelctions · collcetions · collecctions · collecitons · collectinos

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "collection" and "collections" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\kɔ.lɛk.sjɔ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "collection" vs "collections" - which ranks higher?
"collection" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,512 in our French list, against #4,736 for "collections". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "collection" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "collections" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #426,749 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "collection" and "collections" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "collection vs convection". 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 #426,749 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