indemnitévsindemnitésWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,728
“indemnité” frequency rank
#8,865
“indemnités” frequency rank
17593
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indemnité indemnités
Definition Ce qu’on alloue à quelqu’un en vue de l’indemniser. Pluriel de indemnité.

Where the spellings diverge

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

9 ch
indemnité
10 ch
indemnités

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. indemnité and indemnités are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.dɛm.ni.te\) 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) - “indemnité” sits inside “indemnités”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17593, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indemnité is recorded at frequency rank #8,728, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.dɛm.ni.te\. indemnités is at rank #8,865, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.dɛm.ni.te\.

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 17593, this pair ranks #382,409 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of indemnité vs indemnités

Shared letters: deimnté. Private to "indemnité": -. Private to "indemnités": s.

"indemnité" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV  ·  "indemnités" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVC

Frequency comparison

indemnité#8,728
indemnités#8,865

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "indemnité" and "indemnités" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɛ̃.dɛm.ni.te\), 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, "indemnité" or "indemnités"?
"indemnité" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,728 in our French list, against #8,865 for "indemnités". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering indemnité vs indemnités

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 “indemnité” 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