hallucinationvshallucinationsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“hallucination” and “hallucinations” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#28,585
“hallucination” frequency rank
#21,339
“hallucinations” frequency rank
49924
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hallucination hallucinations
Definition Perception sans objet réel, qui peut affecter la vision, l'audition, l'olfaction, le toucher et le goût. Le sujet n'est pas conscient de son caractère pathologique contrairement à l'hallucinose. Pluriel de hallucination.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set hallucination and hallucinations apart are highlighted. They share 13 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

13 ch
hallucination
14 ch
hallucinations

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. hallucination and hallucinations are pronounced identically (\a.ly.si.na.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) - “hallucination” sits inside “hallucinations”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49924, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hallucination is recorded at frequency rank #28,585, classified as anoun, pronounced \a.ly.si.na.sjɔ̃\. hallucinations is at rank #21,339, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.ly.si.na.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 49924, this pair ranks #166,760 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hallucination vs hallucinations

Shared letters: achilnotu. Private to "hallucination": -. Private to "hallucinations": s.

"hallucination" · 13 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCVVC  ·  "hallucinations" · 14 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hallucinationahllucination · hallcuination · halluccination · halluciantion · hallucinaiton · hallucinatino · hallucinationn · hallucinatoin
  • hallucinationsahllucinations · hallcuinations · halluccinations · halluciantions · hallucinaitons · hallucinatinos · hallucinationns · hallucinationss

Frequency comparison

hallucination#28,585
hallucinations#21,339

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hallucination" and "hallucinations" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\a.ly.si.na.sjɔ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "hallucination" or "hallucinations"?
"hallucinations" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #21,339 in our French list, against #28,585 for "hallucination". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering hallucination vs hallucinations

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “hallucination” 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