étudiantvsétudiantesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#2,402
“étudiant” frequency rank
#11,511
“étudiantes” frequency rank
13913
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature étudiant étudiantes
Definition Celui qui suit les cours d’une université ou d’un autre établissement d’enseignement supérieur. Féminin pluriel de étudiant.

Where the spellings diverge

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

8 ch
étudiant
10 ch
étudiantes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: étudiant is \e.ty.djɑ̃\ while étudiantes is \e.ty.djɑ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “étudiant” sits inside “étudiantes”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13913, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

étudiant is recorded at frequency rank #2,402, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ty.djɑ̃\. étudiantes is at rank #11,511, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.ty.djɑ̃t\.

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 13913, this pair ranks #398,982 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of étudiant vs étudiantes

Shared letters: adintué. Private to "étudiant": -. Private to "étudiantes": es.

"étudiant" · 8 letters · shape VCVCVVCC  ·  "étudiantes" · 10 letters · shape VCVCVVCCVC

Frequency comparison

étudiant#2,402
étudiantes#11,511

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "étudiant" and "étudiantes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "étudiant" is a noun and "étudiantes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "étudiant" or "étudiantes"?
"étudiant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,402 in our French list, against #11,511 for "étudiantes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering étudiant vs étudiantes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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