identitésvsidentityWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#12,796
“identités” frequency rank
#40,312
“identity” frequency rank
53108
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature identités identity
Definition Pluriel de identité. Identité.

Where the eye mixes identités and identity

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. identités runs 9 letters (VCVCCVCVC) against identity's 8 (VCVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
identités
8 ch
identity

Look-alike desk: identités vs identity

A purely visual mix-up. identités (\i.dɑ̃.ti.te\) and identity (\aɪ.ˈdɛn.tɪ.ti\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53108, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

identités is recorded at frequency rank #12,796, classified as anoun, pronounced \i.dɑ̃.ti.te\. identity is at rank #40,312, tagged as anoun, pronounced \aɪ.ˈdɛn.tɪ.ti\.

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 53108, this pair ranks #142,992 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of identités vs identity

Shared letters: deint. Private to "identités": sé. Private to "identity": y.

"identités" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVCVC  ·  "identity" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • identity ← dientity · iddentity · idenitty · idenntity · identitty · identityy · identiyt · identtity

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "identités" for "identity" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\i.dɑ̃.ti.te\ versus \aɪ.ˈdɛn.tɪ.ti\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "identités" or "identity"?
"identités" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,796 in our French list, against #40,312 for "identity". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "identités" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "identity" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #142,992 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "identités" and "identity" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "identité vs identity". 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 #142,992 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