Which to use
“exception” and “exceptions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,075
- “exception” frequency rank
- #7,437
- “exceptions” frequency rank
- 9512
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | exception | exceptions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action d’excepter. | Pluriel de exception. |
Same sound, different letters: exception vs exceptions
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - exception / exceptions
This is the hard kind. exception and exceptions are pronounced identically (\ɛk.sɛp.sjɔ̃\) 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) - “exception” sits inside “exceptions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9512, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
exception is recorded at frequency rank #2,075, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛk.sɛp.sjɔ̃\. exceptions is at rank #7,437, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛk.sɛp.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 9512, this pair ranks #416,375 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of exception vs exceptions
Shared letters: ceinoptx. Private to "exception": -. Private to "exceptions": s.
"exception" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVVC · "exceptions" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- exception ← ecxeption · excception · excepiton · excepption · exceptino · exceptionn · exceptoin · excepttion
- exceptions ← ecxeptions · excceptions · excepitons · excepptions · exceptinos · exceptionns · exceptionss · exceptiosn
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "exception" and "exceptions" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "exception" or "exceptions" show up more?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "exception" / "exceptions". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "exception" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exceptions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,375 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "exception" and "exceptions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "exceptions vs exemptions". Nearby pair
- 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 #416,375 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.