Which to use
“instrument” and “instruments” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #4,078
- “instrument” frequency rank
- #3,685
- “instruments” frequency rank
- 7763
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | instrument | instruments |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Objet permettant d’exécuter une action. | Pluriel de instrument. |
Same sound, different letters: instrument vs instruments
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - instrument / instruments
This is the hard kind. instrument and instruments are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃s.tʁy.mɑ̃\) 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) - “instrument” sits inside “instruments”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7763, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
instrument is recorded at frequency rank #4,078, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃s.tʁy.mɑ̃\. instruments is at rank #3,685, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃s.tʁy.mɑ̃\.
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 7763, this pair ranks #422,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of instrument vs instruments
Shared letters: eimnrstu. Private to "instrument": -. Private to "instruments": -.
"instrument" · 10 letters · shape VCCCCVCVCC · "instruments" · 11 letters · shape VCCCCVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- instrument ← innstrument · insrtument · insstrument · instrmuent · instrrument · instruemnt · instrumennt · instrumentt
- instruments ← innstruments · insrtuments · insstruments · instrmuents · instrruments · instruemnts · instrumennts · instrumenst
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "instrument" for "instruments" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "instrument" or "instruments" show up more?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "instrument" / "instruments". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "instrument" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "instruments" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #422,194 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "instrument" and "instruments" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "instamment vs instrument". 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 #422,194 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.