Which to use
“départements” and “department” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,532
- “départements” frequency rank
- #30,975
- “department” frequency rank
- 34507
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | départements | department |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de département. | Ministère (d’un gouvernement). |
Letter map: départements vs department
Shared letters muted; letters that set départements and department apart highlighted. Shared run: 9. départements runs 12 letters (CVCVCCVCVCCC) against department's 10 (CVCVCCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Spelling & dictionary notes on départements vs department
départements and department are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34507, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
départements is recorded at frequency rank #3,532, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.paʁ.tə.mɑ̃\. department is at rank #30,975, tagged as anoun.
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 34507, this pair ranks #283,366 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of départements vs department
Shared letters: ademnprt. Private to "départements": sé. Private to "department": -.
"départements" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCCVCVCCC · "department" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- department ← ddepartment · deaprtment · deparmtent · deparrtment · departemnt · departmennt · departmentt · departmetn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "départements" and "department" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "départements" or "department"?
After this comparison
Pair "départements" vs "department" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.
- Full dictionary entry for "départements" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "department" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #283,366 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "départements" and "department" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "départements vs dépassements". 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 #283,366 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.