Which to use
“éléphant” and “éléphants” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #10,105
- “éléphant” frequency rank
- #11,508
- “éléphants” frequency rank
- 21613
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | éléphant | éléphants |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mammifère herbivore de très grande taille, de l'ordre des proboscidiens, au corps massif, à la peau rugueuse, au nez allongé en trompe préhensile, aux incisives supérieures transformées en défenses. Il pousse son cri en barétant, barrissant ou trompettant. | Pluriel de éléphant. |
Same sound, different letters: éléphant vs éléphants
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. éléphant runs 8 letters (VCVCCVCC) against éléphants's 9 (VCVCCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - éléphant / éléphants
This is the hard kind. éléphant and éléphants are pronounced identically (\e.le.fɑ̃\) 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) - “éléphant” sits inside “éléphants”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21613, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
éléphant is recorded at frequency rank #10,105, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.le.fɑ̃\. éléphants is at rank #11,508, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.le.fɑ̃\.
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 21613, this pair ranks #362,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of éléphant vs éléphants
Shared letters: ahlnpté. Private to "éléphant": -. Private to "éléphants": s.
"éléphant" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCC · "éléphants" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "éléphant" for "éléphants" ever safe?
Frequency check: "éléphant" vs "éléphants" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
"éléphant" and "éléphants" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "éléphant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "éléphants" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #362,267 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "éléphant" and "éléphants" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "élégants vs éléphants". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #362,267 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.