Which to use
“instruction” and “instructions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,765
- “instruction” frequency rank
- #5,355
- “instructions” frequency rank
- 9120
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | instruction | instructions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action d’instruire quelqu’un sur les préceptes, les principes nécessaires à son éducation. | Pluriel de instruction. |
Same sound, different letters: instruction vs instructions
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 11 letters.
Ear matches; page differs - instruction and instructions
This is the hard kind. instruction and instructions are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃s.tʁyk.sjɔ̃\) 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) - “instruction” sits inside “instructions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9120, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
instruction is recorded at frequency rank #3,765, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃s.tʁyk.sjɔ̃\. instructions is at rank #5,355, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃s.tʁyk.sjɔ̃\.
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 9120, this pair ranks #417,734 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of instruction vs instructions
Shared letters: cinorstu. Private to "instruction": -. Private to "instructions": -.
"instruction" · 11 letters · shape VCCCCVCCVVC · "instructions" · 12 letters · shape VCCCCVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- instruction ← innstruction · insrtuction · insstruction · instrcution · instrruction · instrucction · instruciton · instructino
- instructions ← innstructions · insrtuctions · insstructions · instrcutions · instrructions · instrucctions · instrucitons · instructinos
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "instruction" for "instructions" ever safe?
Frequency check: "instruction" vs "instructions" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "instruction" / "instructions". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "instruction" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "instructions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #417,734 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "instruction" and "instructions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "instruction vs instructive". 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 #417,734 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.