insupportablevsinsupportablesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“insupportable” and “insupportables” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,967
“insupportable” frequency rank
#21,667
“insupportables” frequency rank
28634
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature insupportable insupportables
Definition Qu’il est impossible ou très difficile de supporter, d’endurer. Pluriel de insupportable.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set insupportable and insupportables apart are highlighted. They share 13 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

13 ch
insupportable
14 ch
insupportables

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. insupportable and insupportables are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.sy.pɔʁ.tabl\) 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) - “insupportable” sits inside “insupportables”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28634, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

insupportable is recorded at frequency rank #6,967, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.sy.pɔʁ.tabl\. insupportables is at rank #21,667, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.sy.pɔʁ.tabl\.

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 28634, this pair ranks #321,607 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of insupportable vs insupportables

Shared letters: abeilnoprstu. Private to "insupportable": -. Private to "insupportables": -.

"insupportable" · 13 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVCCV  ·  "insupportables" · 14 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • insupportableinnsupportable · inspuportable · inssupportable · insupoprtable · insuportable · insupporatble · insupporrtable · insupportabble
  • insupportablesinnsupportables · inspuportables · inssupportables · insupoprtables · insuportables · insupporatbles · insupporrtables · insupportabbles

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "insupportable" and "insupportables" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɛ̃.sy.pɔʁ.tabl\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "insupportable" or "insupportables"?
"insupportable" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,967 in our French list, against #21,667 for "insupportables". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list