fémininevsfémininsWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: féminine is a noun, féminins is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“féminine” is a noun and “féminins” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,674
“féminine” frequency rank
#11,060
“féminins” frequency rank
15734
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature féminine féminins
Definition Sportive (par opposition aux hommes). Masculin pluriel de féminin.

Letter map: féminine vs féminins

Shared letters muted; letters that set féminine and féminins apart highlighted. Shared run: 7. féminine (CVCVCVCV) and féminins (CVCVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
féminine
8 ch
féminins

Part-of-speech tell for féminine / féminins

Our dataset has no pronunciation recorded for both members, so the reliable separator here is grammatical: féminine is anoun and fémininsanadjective. On the page they differ by a single letter - e in “féminine” becomes s in “féminins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15734, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

féminine is recorded at frequency rank #4,674, classified as anoun, pronounced \fe.mi.nin\. féminins is at rank #11,060, tagged as anadj.

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 15734, this pair ranks #391,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of féminine vs féminins

Shared letters: fimné. Private to "féminine": e. Private to "féminins": s.

"féminine" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV  ·  "féminins" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "féminine" for "féminins" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "féminine" is a noun and "féminins" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "féminine" or "féminins"?
"féminine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,674 in our French list, against #11,060 for "féminins". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Done with this confusable. These links stay specific to "féminine" and "féminins".

  • Full dictionary entry for "féminine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "féminins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #391,061 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "féminine" and "féminins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "féminins vs féminité". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #391,061 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