fémininvsfémininesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#3,199
“féminin” frequency rank
#10,331
“féminines” frequency rank
13530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature féminin féminines
Definition Qualifie un des genres de mots. Il est généralement — mais pas toujours — lié aux femmes. Féminin pluriel de féminin.

Where the eye mixes féminin and féminines

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. féminin runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against féminines's 9 (CVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
féminin
9 ch
féminines

Look-alike desk: féminin vs féminines

A purely visual mix-up. féminin (\fe.mi.nɛ̃\) and féminines (\fe.mi.nin\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “féminin” sits inside “féminines”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

féminin is recorded at frequency rank #3,199, classified as anadj, pronounced \fe.mi.nɛ̃\. féminines is at rank #10,331, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fe.mi.nin\.

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 13530, this pair ranks #400,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of féminin vs féminines

Shared letters: fimné. Private to "féminin": -. Private to "féminines": es.

"féminin" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "féminines" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "féminin" and "féminines" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fe.mi.nɛ̃\ versus \fe.mi.nin\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
In ordinary French text, does "féminin" or "féminines" show up more?
"féminin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,199 in our French list, against #10,331 for "féminines". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "féminin" and "féminines" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "féminin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "féminines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #400,623 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "féminin" and "féminines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "femina vs féminin". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #400,623 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list