Which to use
“instinct” and “instincts” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,197
- “instinct” frequency rank
- #21,358
- “instincts” frequency rank
- 28555
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | instinct | instincts |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Mouvement intérieur qui est naturel aux animaux et qui les fait agir sans le secours de la réflexion pour accomplir des actes conformes à leur espèce et adaptés à leurs besoins. | Pluriel de instinct. |
Same sound, different letters: instinct vs instincts
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - instinct and instincts
This is the hard kind. instinct and instincts are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃s.tɛ̃\) 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) - “instinct” sits inside “instincts”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
instinct is recorded at frequency rank #7,197, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃s.tɛ̃\. instincts is at rank #21,358, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃s.tɛ̃\.
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 28555, this pair ranks #322,062 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of instinct vs instincts
Shared letters: cinst. Private to "instinct": -. Private to "instincts": -.
"instinct" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCCC · "instincts" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVCCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "instinct" for "instincts" ever safe?
Frequency check: "instinct" vs "instincts" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
"instinct" and "instincts" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "instinct" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "instincts" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #322,062 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "instinct" and "instincts" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "instinctif vs instincts". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #322,062 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.