Which to use
“fédéral” and “fédérales” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,617
- “fédéral” frequency rank
- #11,777
- “fédérales” frequency rank
- 14394
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fédéral | fédérales |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui a rapport à une fédération d’États ou à une fédération de plusieurs sociétés visant un but commun. | Féminin pluriel de fédéral. |
Same sound, different letters: fédéral vs fédérales
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. fédéral runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against fédérales's 9 (CVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: fédéral vs fédérales
This is the hard kind. fédéral and fédérales are pronounced identically (\fe.de.ʁal\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “fédéral” sits inside “fédérales”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14394, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fédéral is recorded at frequency rank #2,617, classified as anadj, pronounced \fe.de.ʁal\. fédérales is at rank #11,777, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fe.de.ʁal\.
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 14394, this pair ranks #396,877 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fédéral vs fédérales
Shared letters: adflré. Private to "fédéral": -. Private to "fédérales": es.
"fédéral" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC · "fédérales" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fédéral" for "fédérales" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "fédéral" or "fédérales" show up more?
What to do next
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "fédéral" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fédérales" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #396,877 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fédéral" and "fédérales" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fédérales vs fédérés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #396,877 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.