fréquencesvsfréquentesWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#10,165
“fréquences” frequency rank
#9,842
“fréquentes” frequency rank
20007
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fréquences fréquentes
Definition Pluriel de fréquence. Féminin pluriel de fréquent.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fréquences and fréquentes apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
fréquences
10 ch
fréquentes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fréquences is \fʁe.kɑ̃s\ while fréquentes is \fʁe.kɑ̃t\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - c in “fréquences” becomes t in “fréquentes”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20007, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fréquences is recorded at frequency rank #10,165, classified as anoun, pronounced \fʁe.kɑ̃s\. fréquentes is at rank #9,842, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fʁe.kɑ̃t\.

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 20007, this pair ranks #370,395 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of fréquences vs fréquentes

Shared letters: efnqrsué. Private to "fréquences": c. Private to "fréquentes": t.

"fréquences" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVVCCVC  ·  "fréquentes" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVVCCVC

Frequency comparison

fréquences#10,165
fréquentes#9,842

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fréquences" and "fréquentes" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "fréquences" is a noun and "fréquentes" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "fréquences" or "fréquentes"?
"fréquentes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,842 in our French list, against #10,165 for "fréquences". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering fréquences vs fréquentes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “fréquences”; for an adjective, it's “fréquentes”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fréquences” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list