gourmandisevsgourmandsWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#25,668
“gourmandise” frequency rank
#22,880
“gourmands” frequency rank
48548
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature gourmandise gourmands
Definition Défaut de celui qui est gourmand, qui mange plus que de raison. Masculin pluriel de gourmand.

Where the spellings diverge

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

11 ch
gourmandise
9 ch
gourmands

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: gourmandise is \ɡuʁ.mɑ̃.diz\ while gourmands is \ɡuʁ.mɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 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 48548, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

gourmandise is recorded at frequency rank #25,668, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡuʁ.mɑ̃.diz\. gourmands is at rank #22,880, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɡuʁ.mɑ̃\.

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 48548, this pair ranks #178,050 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of gourmandise vs gourmands

Shared letters: adgmnorsu. Private to "gourmandise": ei. Private to "gourmands": -.

"gourmandise" · 11 letters · shape CVVCCVCCVCV  ·  "gourmands" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVCCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gourmandiseggourmandise · gorumandise · goumrandise · gouramndise · gourmadnise · gourmanddise · gourmandies · gourmandisse
  • gourmandsggourmands · gorumands · goumrands · gouramnds · gourmadns · gourmandds · gourmandss · gourmannds

Frequency comparison

gourmandise#25,668
gourmands#22,880

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "gourmandise" and "gourmands" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "gourmandise" is a noun and "gourmands" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "gourmandise" or "gourmands"?
"gourmands" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,880 in our French list, against #25,668 for "gourmandise". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering gourmandise vs gourmands

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “gourmandise”; for an adjective, it's “gourmands”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “gourmandise” 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