félinevsfélinsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#45,629
“féline” frequency rank
#29,785
“félins” frequency rank
75414
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature féline félins
Definition Féminin singulier de félin. Masculin pluriel de félin.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set féline and félins apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
féline
6 ch
félins

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. féline (\fe.lin\) and félins (\fe.lɛ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - e in “féline” becomes s in “félins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75414, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

féline is recorded at frequency rank #45,629, classified as anadj, pronounced \fe.lin\. félins is at rank #29,785, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fe.lɛ̃\.

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 75414, this pair ranks #34,160 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of féline vs félins

Shared letters: filné. Private to "féline": e. Private to "félins": s.

"féline" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "félins" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Frequency comparison

féline#45,629
félins#29,785

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "féline" and "félins" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fe.lin\ versus \fe.lɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "féline" or "félins"?
"félins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,785 in our French list, against #45,629 for "féline". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering féline vs félins

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “féline” 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