Which to use
“départ” and “départs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #769
- “départ” frequency rank
- #9,158
- “départs” frequency rank
- 9927
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | départ | départs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Moment précis de l'action de partir. | Pluriel de départ. |
Same sound, different letters: départ vs départs
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. départ runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against départs's 7 (CVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - départ / départs
This is the hard kind. départ and départs are pronounced identically (\de.paʁ\) 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) - “départ” sits inside “départs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9927, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
départ is recorded at frequency rank #769, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.paʁ\. départs is at rank #9,158, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.paʁ\.
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 9927, this pair ranks #414,909 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of départ vs départs
Shared letters: adprté. Private to "départ": -. Private to "départs": s.
"départ" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "départs" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "départ" and "départs" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "départ" or "départs"?
What to do next
"départ" and "départs" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "départ" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "départs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,909 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "départ" and "départs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dart vs départ". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #414,909 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.