connotationvsconnotationsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,485
“connotation” frequency rank
#38,725
“connotations” frequency rank
58210
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature connotation connotations
Definition Sens particulier qui vient s’ajouter au sens ordinaire, en fonction du contexte. Pluriel de connotation.

Where the eye mixes connotation and connotations

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence.

11 ch
connotation
12 ch
connotations

Look-alike desk: connotation vs connotations

A purely visual mix-up. connotation (\ko.nɔ.ta.sjɔ̃\) and connotations (\kɔ.nɔ.ta.sjɔ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “connotation” sits inside “connotations”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58210, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

connotation is recorded at frequency rank #19,485, classified as anoun, pronounced \ko.nɔ.ta.sjɔ̃\. connotations is at rank #38,725, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ.nɔ.ta.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 58210, this pair ranks #110,407 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of connotation vs connotations

Shared letters: acinot. Private to "connotation": -. Private to "connotations": s.

"connotation" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVC  ·  "connotations" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • connotationcconnotation · cnonotation · connoattion · connotaiton · connotatino · connotationn · connotatoin · connotattion
  • connotationscconnotations · cnonotations · connoattions · connotaitons · connotatinos · connotationns · connotationss · connotatiosn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "connotation" and "connotations" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ko.nɔ.ta.sjɔ̃\ versus \kɔ.nɔ.ta.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "connotation" or "connotations" show up more?
"connotation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,485 in our French list, against #38,725 for "connotations". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "connotation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "connotations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #110,407 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "connotation" and "connotations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "connotations vs convocations". 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 #110,407 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