hospitaliervshospitalièresTell them apart

Which to use

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

#8,720
“hospitalier” frequency rank
#31,540
“hospitalières” frequency rank
40260
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hospitalier hospitalières
Definition Relatif aux hôpitaux et aux hospices. Féminin pluriel de l’adjectif hospitalier.

Where the eye mixes hospitalier and hospitalières

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. hospitalier runs 11 letters (CVCCVCVCVVC) against hospitalières's 13 (CVCCVCVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
hospitalier
13 ch
hospitalières

Visual trap between hospitalier and hospitalières

A purely visual mix-up. hospitalier (^((h muet))\ɔs.pi.ta.lje\) and hospitalières (^((h muet))\ɔs.pi.ta.ljɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40260, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hospitalier is recorded at frequency rank #8,720, classified as anadj, pronounced ^((h muet))\ɔs.pi.ta.lje\. hospitalières is at rank #31,540, tagged as anadj, pronounced ^((h muet))\ɔs.pi.ta.ljɛʁ\.

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 40260, this pair ranks #241,809 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hospitalier vs hospitalières

Shared letters: aehiloprst. Private to "hospitalier": -. Private to "hospitalières": è.

"hospitalier" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVC  ·  "hospitalières" · 13 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hospitalier ← hhospitalier · hopsitalier · hosiptalier · hospiatlier · hospitailer · hospitaleir · hospitalierr · hospitalire

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "hospitalier" for "hospitalières" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (^((h muet))\ɔs.pi.ta.lje\ versus ^((h muet))\ɔs.pi.ta.ljɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "hospitalier" or "hospitalières"?
"hospitalier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,720 in our French list, against #31,540 for "hospitalières". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "hospitalier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hospitalières" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #241,809 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hospitalier" and "hospitalières" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hospitalières vs hospitalisés". 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 #241,809 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