Which to use
“fonction” and “fonctions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #724
- “fonction” frequency rank
- #1,566
- “fonctions” frequency rank
- 2290
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fonction | fonctions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Activité qui tend à un but déterminé. | Pluriel de fonction. |
Same sound, different letters: fonction vs fonctions
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. fonction runs 8 letters (CVCCCVVC) against fonctions's 9 (CVCCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - fonction / fonctions
This is the hard kind. fonction and fonctions are pronounced identically (\fɔ̃k.sjɔ̃\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “fonction” sits inside “fonctions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 2290, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fonction is recorded at frequency rank #724, classified as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃k.sjɔ̃\. fonctions is at rank #1,566, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃k.sjɔ̃\.
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 2290, this pair ranks #436,418 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fonction vs fonctions
Shared letters: cfinot. Private to "fonction": -. Private to "fonctions": s.
"fonction" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC · "fonctions" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fonction" and "fonctions" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fonction" vs "fonctions" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "fonction" / "fonctions". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "fonction" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fonctions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #436,418 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fonction" and "fonctions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fonctions vs function". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #436,418 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.