Which to use
“inférieur” and “inférieurs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,764
- “inférieur” frequency rank
- #9,499
- “inférieurs” frequency rank
- 13263
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | inférieur | inférieurs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est placé au-dessous, en bas. | Masculin pluriel de inférieur. |
Same sound, different letters: inférieur vs inférieurs
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. inférieur runs 9 letters (VCCVCVVVC) against inférieurs's 10 (VCCVCVVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - inférieur / inférieurs
This is the hard kind. inférieur and inférieurs are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.fe.ʁjœʁ\) 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) - “inférieur” sits inside “inférieurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13263, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
inférieur is recorded at frequency rank #3,764, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fe.ʁjœʁ\. inférieurs is at rank #9,499, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.fe.ʁjœʁ\.
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 13263, this pair ranks #401,751 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of inférieur vs inférieurs
Shared letters: efinrué. Private to "inférieur": -. Private to "inférieurs": s.
"inférieur" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVVVC · "inférieurs" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVVVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "inférieur" for "inférieurs" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "inférieur" or "inférieurs" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "inférieur" / "inférieurs". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "inférieur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "inférieurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #401,751 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "inférieur" and "inférieurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inférieures vs inférieurs". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #401,751 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.