emotionvsémotionsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#42,854
“emotion” frequency rank
#3,654
“émotions” frequency rank
46508
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature emotion émotions
Definition Émotion. Pluriel de émotion.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set emotion and émotions apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
emotion
8 ch
émotions

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. emotion (\əˈmoʊ.ʃən\) and émotions (\e.mɔ.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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46508, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

emotion is recorded at frequency rank #42,854, classified as anoun, pronounced \əˈmoʊ.ʃən\. émotions is at rank #3,654, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.mɔ.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 46508, this pair ranks #194,353 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of emotion vs émotions

Shared letters: imnot. Private to "emotion": e. Private to "émotions": .

"emotion" · 7 letters · shape VCVCVVC  ·  "émotions" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • emotionemmotion · emoiton · emotino · emotionn · emotoin · emottion · emtoion · eomtion

Frequency comparison

emotion#42,854
émotions#3,654

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "emotion" and "émotions" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\əˈmoʊ.ʃən\ versus \e.mɔ.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "emotion" or "émotions"?
"émotions" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,654 in our French list, against #42,854 for "emotion". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering emotion vs émotions

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “emotion” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list