croyancevscroyantsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#7,171
“croyance” frequency rank
#10,852
“croyants” frequency rank
18023
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature croyance croyants
Definition Connaissance considérée comme irréfutable sans qu’elle soit basée sur des preuves. Masculin pluriel de croyant.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
croyance
8 ch
croyants

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: croyance is \kʁwa.jɑ̃s\ while croyants is \kʁwa.jɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18023, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

croyance is recorded at frequency rank #7,171, classified as anoun, pronounced \kʁwa.jɑ̃s\. croyants is at rank #10,852, tagged as anadj, pronounced \kʁwa.jɑ̃\.

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 18023, this pair ranks #380,352 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of croyance vs croyants

Shared letters: acnory. Private to "croyance": e. Private to "croyants": st.

"croyance" · 8 letters · shape CCVVVCCV  ·  "croyants" · 8 letters · shape CCVVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • croyanceccroyance · coryance · croaynce · croyacne · croyancce · croyanec · croyannce · croynace
  • croyantsccroyants · coryants · croaynts · croyannts · croyanst · croyantss · croyantts · croyatns

Frequency comparison

croyance#7,171
croyants#10,852

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "croyance" and "croyants" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "croyance" is a noun and "croyants" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "croyance" or "croyants"?
"croyance" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,171 in our French list, against #10,852 for "croyants". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering croyance vs croyants

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “croyance”; for an adjective, it's “croyants”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “croyance” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list