féminismevsféministesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#9,845
“féminisme” frequency rank
#9,319
“féministes” frequency rank
19164
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature féminisme féministes
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. Pluriel de féministe.

Where the eye mixes féminisme and féministes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. féminisme runs 9 letters (CVCVCVCCV) against féministes's 10 (CVCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
féminisme
10 ch
féministes

Why the eye confuses féminisme with féministes

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: féminisme is \fe.mi.nism\ while féministes is \fe.mi.nist\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19164, 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\. féministes is at rank #9,319, 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 19164, this pair ranks #374,647 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of féminisme vs féministes

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

"féminisme" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV  ·  "féministes" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "féminisme" and "féministes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "féminisme" is a noun and "féministes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "féminisme" or "féministes" show up more?
"féministes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,319 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "féminisme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "féministes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #374,647 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "féminisme" and "féministes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "féminisme vs féminité". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #374,647 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