ensemblevsensemblesTell them apart

Quick tell: ensemble is a adverb, ensembles is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ensemble” is an adverb and “ensembles” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#288
“ensemble” frequency rank
#7,687
“ensembles” frequency rank
7975
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ensemble ensembles
Definition L’un avec l’autre : les uns avec les autres ; conjointement. Pluriel de ensemble.

Same sound, different letters: ensemble vs ensembles

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters.

8 ch
ensemble
9 ch
ensembles

Ear matches; page differs - ensemble and ensembles

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: ensemble and ensembles carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.sɑ̃bl\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadverb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “ensemble” sits inside “ensembles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7975, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ensemble is recorded at frequency rank #288, classified as anadv, pronounced \ɑ̃.sɑ̃bl\. ensembles is at rank #7,687, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.sɑ̃bl\.

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 7975, this pair ranks #421,535 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ensemble vs ensembles

Shared letters: belmns. Private to "ensemble": -. Private to "ensembles": -.

"ensemble" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCCV  ·  "ensembles" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ensembleenesmble · ennsemble · ensebmle · ensembble · ensembel · ensemblle · ensemlbe · ensemmble
  • ensemblesenesmbles · ennsembles · ensebmles · ensembbles · ensembels · ensembless · ensemblles · ensemblse

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "ensemble" and "ensembles" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ensemble" is an adverb and "ensembles" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ensemble" or "ensembles"?
"ensemble" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #288 in our French list, against #7,687 for "ensembles". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "ensemble" / "ensembles". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ensemble" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ensembles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #421,535 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #421,535 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