développementvsdéveloppementsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#505
“développement” frequency rank
#9,989
“développements” frequency rank
10494
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature développement développements
Definition Action de développer, de se développer ou résultat de cette action, au propre et au figuré. Pluriel de développement.

Where the eye mixes développement and développements

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 13 letters in sequence. développement runs 13 letters (CVCVCVCCVCVCC) against développements's 14 (CVCVCVCCVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

13 ch
développement
14 ch
développements

Look-alike desk: développement vs développements

A purely visual mix-up. développement (\de.və.lɔp.mɑ̃\) and développements (\de.vlɔp.mɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “développement” sits inside “développements”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10494, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

développement is recorded at frequency rank #505, classified as anoun, pronounced \de.və.lɔp.mɑ̃\. développements is at rank #9,989, tagged as anoun, pronounced \de.vlɔp.mɑ̃\.

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 10494, this pair ranks #412,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of développement vs développements

Shared letters: delmnoptvé. Private to "développement": -. Private to "développements": s.

"développement" · 13 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVCVCC  ·  "développements" · 14 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVCVCCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "développement" and "développements" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\de.və.lɔp.mɑ̃\ versus \de.vlɔp.mɑ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "développement" or "développements"?
"développement" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #505 in our French list, against #9,989 for "développements". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "développement" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "développements" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #412,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "développement" and "développements" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "development vs développement". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #412,772 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