Which to use
“déficience” and “déficiences” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #23,184
- “déficience” frequency rank
- #38,765
- “déficiences” frequency rank
- 61949
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | déficience | déficiences |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Défaillance intellectuelle ou physique. | Pluriel de déficience. |
Same sound, different letters: déficience vs déficiences
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. déficience runs 10 letters (CVCVCVVCCV) against déficiences's 11 (CVCVCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - déficience / déficiences
This is the hard kind. déficience and déficiences are pronounced identically (\de.fi.sjɑ̃s\) 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) - “déficience” sits inside “déficiences”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 61949, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
déficience is recorded at frequency rank #23,184, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.fi.sjɑ̃s\. déficiences is at rank #38,765, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.fi.sjɑ̃s\.
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 61949, this pair ranks #89,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of déficience vs déficiences
Shared letters: cdefiné. Private to "déficience": -. Private to "déficiences": s.
"déficience" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVCCV · "déficiences" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "déficience" for "déficiences" ever safe?
Frequency check: "déficience" vs "déficiences" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
"déficience" and "déficiences" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "déficience" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "déficiences" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #89,616 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "déficience" and "déficiences" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "déficiences vs déficiente". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #89,616 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.