Which to use
“dépendance” and “dépendances” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,654
- “dépendance” frequency rank
- #14,915
- “dépendances” frequency rank
- 20569
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | dépendance | dépendances |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Tout accessoire d’une chose principale, de tout ce qui tient ou se rattache à une chose sans la constituer essentiellement. | Pluriel de dépendance. |
Same sound, different letters: dépendance vs dépendances
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. dépendance runs 10 letters (CVCVCCVCCV) against dépendances's 11 (CVCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - dépendance and dépendances
This is the hard kind. dépendance and dépendances are pronounced identically (\de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃s\) 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) - “dépendance” sits inside “dépendances”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20569, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
dépendance is recorded at frequency rank #5,654, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃s\. dépendances is at rank #14,915, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.pɑ̃.dɑ̃s\.
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 20569, this pair ranks #367,605 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of dépendance vs dépendances
Shared letters: acdenpé. Private to "dépendance": -. Private to "dépendances": s.
"dépendance" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCV · "dépendances" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "dépendance" and "dépendances" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "dépendance" or "dépendances" show up more?
Useful next steps
"dépendance" and "dépendances" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "dépendance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "dépendances" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #367,605 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "dépendance" and "dépendances" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dépendances vs dépendantes". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #367,605 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.