espérancevsespérancesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#5,657
“espérance” frequency rank
#19,280
“espérances” frequency rank
24937
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature espérance espérances
Definition Disposition à espérer ou contenu de cette disposition. Se différencie du synonyme « espoir » qui s'inscrit dans le quotidien humain, matériel par sa dimension eschatologique. Biens qu’on attend d’un héritage.

Same sound, different letters: espérance vs espérances

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. espérance runs 9 letters (VCCVCVCCV) against espérances's 10 (VCCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
espérance
10 ch
espérances

Ear matches; page differs - espérance and espérances

This is the hard kind. espérance and espérances are pronounced identically (\ɛs.pe.ʁɑ̃s\) 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) - “espérance” sits inside “espérances”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24937, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

espérance is recorded at frequency rank #5,657, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛs.pe.ʁɑ̃s\. espérances is at rank #19,280, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛs.pe.ʁɑ̃s\.

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 24937, this pair ranks #343,710 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of espérance vs espérances

Shared letters: acenprsé. Private to "espérance": -. Private to "espérances": -.

"espérance" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV  ·  "espérances" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "espérance" and "espérances" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɛs.pe.ʁɑ̃s\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "espérance" vs "espérances" - which ranks higher?
"espérance" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #5,657 in our French list, against #19,280 for "espérances". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

"espérance" and "espérances" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "espérance" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "espérances" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #343,710 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "espérance" and "espérances" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "espérance vs esperanza". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #343,710 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