dessinvsdessinsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#2,117
“dessin” frequency rank
#3,247
“dessins” frequency rank
5364
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature dessin dessins
Definition Représentation d’objets, de personnages, de paysages, etc. sur une surface à l’aide d’un crayon, à la plume, au pinceau ou par tout autre instrument. Pluriel de dessin.

Same sound, different letters: dessin vs dessins

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.

6 ch
dessin
7 ch
dessins

Ear matches; page differs - dessin and dessins

This is the hard kind. dessin and dessins are pronounced identically (\de.sɛ̃\) 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) - “dessin” sits inside “dessins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5364, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

dessin is recorded at frequency rank #2,117, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.sɛ̃\. dessins is at rank #3,247, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.sɛ̃\.

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 5364, this pair ranks #429,228 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of dessin vs dessins

Shared letters: deins. Private to "dessin": -. Private to "dessins": -.

"dessin" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "dessins" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • dessinddessin · desin · desisn · dessinn · dessni · dsesin · edssin
  • dessinsddessins · desins · desisns · dessinns · dessinss · dessisn · dessnis · dsesins

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "dessin" and "dessins" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\de.sɛ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "dessin" vs "dessins" - which ranks higher?
"dessin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,117 in our French list, against #3,247 for "dessins". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "dessin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "dessins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #429,228 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "dessin" and "dessins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "dessina vs dessins". 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 #429,228 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