Which to use
“illégitime” and “illégitimes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,157
- “illégitime” frequency rank
- #32,002
- “illégitimes” frequency rank
- 49159
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | illégitime | illégitimes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui n’est pas légitime, qui n'a pas de légitimité. | Pluriel de illégitime. |
Same sound, different letters: illégitime vs illégitimes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. illégitime runs 10 letters (VCCVCVCVCV) against illégitimes's 11 (VCCVCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - illégitime and illégitimes
This is the hard kind. illégitime and illégitimes are pronounced identically (\i.le.ʒi.tim\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “illégitime” sits inside “illégitimes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49159, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
illégitime is recorded at frequency rank #17,157, classified as anadj, pronounced \i.le.ʒi.tim\. illégitimes is at rank #32,002, tagged as anadj, pronounced \i.le.ʒi.tim\.
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 49159, this pair ranks #172,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of illégitime vs illégitimes
Shared letters: egilmté. Private to "illégitime": -. Private to "illégitimes": s.
"illégitime" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCV · "illégitimes" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "illégitime" for "illégitimes" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "illégitime" or "illégitimes" show up more?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "illégitime" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "illégitimes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #172,962 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
Confusion rank #172,962 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.