féminismevsféministeConfusable pair

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

Which to use

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

#9,845
“féminisme” frequency rank
#7,061
“féministe” frequency rank
16906
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature féminisme féministe
Definition Mouvement revendicatif ayant pour objet la reconnaissance ou l’extension des droits des femmes dans la société jusqu’à leur pleine libération de la domination masculine. Qui a rapport au féminisme, mouvement revendicatif ayant pour objet la reconnaissance ou l’extension des droits des femmes dans la société afin de les libérer de la domination masculine.

Where the eye mixes féminisme and féministe

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. féminisme and féministe follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVCVCVCCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

9 ch
féminisme
9 ch
féministe

Why the eye confuses féminisme with féministe

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: féminisme is \fe.mi.nism\ while féministe is \fe.mi.nist\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - m in “féminisme” becomes t in “féministe”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16906, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

féminisme is recorded at frequency rank #9,845, classified as anoun, pronounced \fe.mi.nism\. féministe is at rank #7,061, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fe.mi.nist\.

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 16906, this pair ranks #385,698 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of féminisme vs féministe

Shared letters: efimnsé. Private to "féminisme": -. Private to "féministe": t.

"féminisme" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV  ·  "féministe" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "féminisme" for "féministe" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "féminisme" is a noun and "féministe" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "féminisme" vs "féministe" - which ranks higher?
"féministe" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,061 in our French list, against #9,845 for "féminisme". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "féminisme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "féministe" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #385,698 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "féminisme" and "féministe" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "féminisme vs féminité". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #385,698 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