Which to use
“indigène” and “indigènes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,911
- “indigène” frequency rank
- #9,177
- “indigènes” frequency rank
- 26088
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | indigène | indigènes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est originaire du pays où il vit, où il se manifeste. | Pluriel de indigène. |
Same sound, different letters: indigène vs indigènes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. indigène runs 8 letters (VCCVCVCV) against indigènes's 9 (VCCVCVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: indigène vs indigènes
This is the hard kind. indigène and indigènes are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.di.ʒɛn\) 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) - “indigène” sits inside “indigènes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26088, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
indigène is recorded at frequency rank #16,911, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.di.ʒɛn\. indigènes is at rank #9,177, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.di.ʒɛn\.
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 26088, this pair ranks #337,180 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of indigène vs indigènes
Shared letters: deginè. Private to "indigène": -. Private to "indigènes": s.
"indigène" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCV · "indigènes" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "indigène" and "indigènes" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "indigène" or "indigènes"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "indigène" / "indigènes". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "indigène" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "indigènes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #337,180 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "indigène" and "indigènes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "indigence vs indigène". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #337,180 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.