démocratievsdémocratiesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,038
“démocratie” frequency rank
#19,522
“démocraties” frequency rank
21560
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature démocratie démocraties
Definition Régime politique dans lequel le peuple dispose du pouvoir souverain et l’applique en respectant des principes démocratiques (cadre constitutionnel stable, respect de l’opposition et des minorités, balance des pouvoirs, etc.). Pluriel de démocratie.

Where the eye mixes démocratie and démocraties

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. démocratie runs 10 letters (CVCVCCVCVV) against démocraties's 11 (CVCVCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

10 ch
démocratie
11 ch
démocraties

Visual trap between démocratie and démocraties

A purely visual mix-up. démocratie (\de.mo.kʁa.si\) and démocraties (\de.mɔ.kʁa.si\) 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) - “démocratie” sits inside “démocraties”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21560, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

démocratie is recorded at frequency rank #2,038, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.mo.kʁa.si\. démocraties is at rank #19,522, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.mɔ.kʁa.si\.

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 21560, this pair ranks #362,534 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of démocratie vs démocraties

Shared letters: acdeimorté. Private to "démocratie": -. Private to "démocraties": s.

"démocratie" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVV  ·  "démocraties" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "démocratie" and "démocraties" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\de.mo.kʁa.si\ versus \de.mɔ.kʁa.si\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "démocratie" or "démocraties" show up more?
"démocratie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,038 in our French list, against #19,522 for "démocraties". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "démocratie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "démocraties" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #362,534 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "démocratie" and "démocraties" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "démocraties vs démocratiser". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #362,534 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