félicitationvsfélicitationsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: félicitation is a noun, félicitations is an intj, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“félicitation” is a noun and “félicitations” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#23,561
“félicitation” frequency rank
#4,423
“félicitations” frequency rank
27984
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature félicitation félicitations
Definition Action de féliciter ; compliment. Utilisé pour adresser ses félicitations à quelqu’un.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set félicitation and félicitations apart are highlighted. They share 12 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

12 ch
félicitation
13 ch
félicitations

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: félicitation and félicitations carry the same recorded pronunciation, \fe.li.si.ta.sjɔ̃\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anintj, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “félicitation” sits inside “félicitations”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27984, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

félicitation is recorded at frequency rank #23,561, classified as anoun, pronounced \fe.li.si.ta.sjɔ̃\. félicitations is at rank #4,423, tagged as anintj, pronounced \fe.li.si.ta.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 27984, this pair ranks #325,589 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of félicitation vs félicitations

Shared letters: acfilnoté. Private to "félicitation": -. Private to "félicitations": s.

"félicitation" · 12 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCVVC  ·  "félicitations" · 13 letters · shape CVCVCVCVCVVCC

Frequency comparison

félicitation#23,561
félicitations#4,423

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "félicitation" and "félicitations" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "félicitation" is a noun and "félicitations" an intj, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "félicitation" or "félicitations"?
"félicitations" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,423 in our French list, against #23,561 for "félicitation". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering félicitation vs félicitations

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

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