indifférencevsindifférentsWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: indifférence is a noun, indifférents is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“indifférence” is a noun and “indifférents” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,336
“indifférence” frequency rank
#28,599
“indifférents” frequency rank
37935
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature indifférence indifférents
Definition État d’une personne qui n’extériorise pas ses sentiments, ses états d’âme. Masculin pluriel de indifférent.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set indifférence and indifférents apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

12 ch
indifférence
12 ch
indifférents

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: indifférence is \ɛ̃.di.fe.ʁɑ̃s\ while indifférents is \ɛ̃.di.fe.ʁɑ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37935, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

indifférence is recorded at frequency rank #9,336, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.di.fe.ʁɑ̃s\. indifférents is at rank #28,599, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.di.fe.ʁɑ̃\.

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 37935, this pair ranks #258,918 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of indifférence vs indifférents

Shared letters: definré. Private to "indifférence": c. Private to "indifférents": st.

"indifférence" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVCCV  ·  "indifférents" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVCCC

Frequency comparison

indifférence#9,336
indifférents#28,599

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "indifférence" and "indifférents" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "indifférence" is a noun and "indifférents" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "indifférence" or "indifférents"?
"indifférence" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,336 in our French list, against #28,599 for "indifférents". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering indifférence vs indifférents

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “indifférence”; for an adjective, it's “indifférents”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “indifférence” 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