interférencevsinterférencesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#25,367
“interférence” frequency rank
#26,413
“interférences” frequency rank
51780
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature interférence interférences
Definition Phénomène dans lequel deux vibrations s’annulent en se superposant. Pluriel de interférence.

Same sound, different letters: interférence vs interférences

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 12 letters. interférence runs 12 letters (VCCVCCVCVCCV) against interférences's 13 (VCCVCCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
interférence
13 ch
interférences

Ear matches; page differs - interférence and interférences

This is the hard kind. interférence and interférences are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.fe.ʁɑ̃s\) 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) - “interférence” sits inside “interférences”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51780, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

interférence is recorded at frequency rank #25,367, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.fe.ʁɑ̃s\. interférences is at rank #26,413, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.fe.ʁɑ̃s\.

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 51780, this pair ranks #152,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of interférence vs interférences

Shared letters: cefinrté. Private to "interférence": -. Private to "interférences": s.

"interférence" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVCCV  ·  "interférences" · 13 letters · shape VCCVCCVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "interférence" for "interférences" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.fe.ʁɑ̃s\), 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, "interférence" or "interférences"?
"interférence" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,367 in our French list, against #26,413 for "interférences". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "interférence" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "interférences" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #152,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics

Confusion rank #152,530 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list