Which to use
“désir” and “désirs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,670
- “désir” frequency rank
- #7,819
- “désirs” frequency rank
- 10489
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | désir | désirs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de désirer ; résultat de cette action. | Pluriel de désir. |
Same sound, different letters: désir vs désirs
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - désir and désirs
This is the hard kind. désir and désirs are pronounced identically (\de.ziʁ\) 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) - “désir” sits inside “désirs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10489, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
désir is recorded at frequency rank #2,670, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.ziʁ\. désirs is at rank #7,819, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.ziʁ\.
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 10489, this pair ranks #412,793 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of désir vs désirs
Shared letters: dirsé. Private to "désir": -. Private to "désirs": -.
"désir" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "désirs" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "désir" and "désirs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "désir" vs "désirs" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "désir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "désirs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #412,793 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "désir" and "désirs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "désirs vs devins". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #412,793 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.