empreintevsempreintsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: empreinte is a noun, empreints is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“empreinte” is a noun and “empreints” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,081
“empreinte” frequency rank
#46,140
“empreints” frequency rank
52221
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature empreinte empreints
Definition Figure empreinte, impression, marque obtenue par pression. Masculin pluriel de empreint.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set empreinte and empreints apart are highlighted. They share 8 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
empreinte
9 ch
empreints

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: empreinte is \ɑ̃.pʁɛ̃t\ while empreints is \ɑ̃.pʁɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “empreinte” becomes s in “empreints”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 52221, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

empreinte is recorded at frequency rank #6,081, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.pʁɛ̃t\. empreints is at rank #46,140, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.pʁɛ̃\.

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 52221, this pair ranks #149,238 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of empreinte vs empreints

Shared letters: eimnprt. Private to "empreinte": -. Private to "empreints": s.

"empreinte" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVCCV  ·  "empreints" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • empreinteemmpreinte · emperinte · emppreinte · empreinet · empreinnte · empreintte · empreitne · emprenite
  • empreintsemmpreints · emperints · emppreints · empreinnts · empreinst · empreintss · empreintts · empreitns

Frequency comparison

empreinte#6,081
empreints#46,140

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "empreinte" and "empreints" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "empreinte" is a noun and "empreints" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "empreinte" or "empreints"?
"empreinte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,081 in our French list, against #46,140 for "empreints". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering empreinte vs empreints

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “empreinte”; for an adjective, it's “empreints”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “empreinte” 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