électionsvsérectionsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,016
“élections” frequency rank
#45,397
“érections” frequency rank
46413
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature élections érections
Definition Pluriel de élection. Pluriel de érection.

Where the eye mixes élections and érections

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

9 ch
élections
9 ch
érections

Look-alike desk: élections vs érections

A purely visual mix-up. élections (\e.lɛk.sjɔ̃\) and érections (\e.ʁɛk.sjɔ̃\) 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 a single letter - l in “élections” becomes r in “érections”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46413, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

élections is recorded at frequency rank #1,016, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.lɛk.sjɔ̃\. érections is at rank #45,397, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.ʁɛk.sjɔ̃\.

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 46413, this pair ranks #195,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of élections vs érections

Shared letters: ceinosté. Private to "élections": l. Private to "érections": r.

"élections" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVVCC  ·  "érections" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "élections" and "érections" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\e.lɛk.sjɔ̃\ versus \e.ʁɛk.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "élections" or "érections" show up more?
"élections" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,016 in our French list, against #45,397 for "érections". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "élections" and "érections" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "élections" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "érections" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #195,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "élections" and "érections" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éjection vs érections". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #195,146 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