interesse vs intérêts, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#25,015
“interesse” frequency rank: #1,481
“intérêts” frequency rank: 26496
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	interesse	intérêts
Definition	Intérêt.	Pluriel de intérêt.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set interesse and intérêts apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

interesse

8 ch

intérêts

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. interesse (\in.te.ˈrɛs.se\) and intérêts (\ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 26496, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

interesse is recorded at frequency rank #25,015, classified as anoun, pronounced \in.te.ˈrɛs.se\. intérêts is at rank #1,481, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ\.

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 26496, this pair ranks #334,640 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of interesse vs intérêts

Shared letters: inrst. Private to "interesse": e. Private to "intérêts": éê.

"interesse" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV · "intérêts" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

interesse ← inetresse · innteresse · inteersse · interese · intereses · interresse · intersese · intreesse

Frequency comparison

interesse#25,015

intérêts#1,481

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "interesse" and "intérêts" be used interchangeably?

No. They are said differently (\in.te.ˈrɛs.se\ versus \ɛ̃.te.ʁɛ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.

Which is more common, "interesse" or "intérêts"?

"intérêts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,481 in our French list, against #25,015 for "interesse". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering interesse vs intérêts

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “interesse” entry
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