intérimairevsintérimairesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#19,322
“intérimaire” frequency rank
#33,740
“intérimaires” frequency rank
53062
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature intérimaire intérimaires
Definition Qui a lieu par intérim. Pluriel de intérimaire.

Same sound, different letters: intérimaire vs intérimaires

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 11 letters. intérimaire runs 11 letters (VCCVCVCVVCV) against intérimaires's 12 (VCCVCVCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
intérimaire
12 ch
intérimaires

Homophone desk: intérimaire vs intérimaires

This is the hard kind. intérimaire and intérimaires are pronounced identically (\ɛ̃.te.ʁi.mɛʁ\) 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) - “intérimaire” sits inside “intérimaires”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53062, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intérimaire is recorded at frequency rank #19,322, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.te.ʁi.mɛʁ\. intérimaires is at rank #33,740, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.te.ʁi.mɛʁ\.

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 53062, this pair ranks #143,365 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of intérimaire vs intérimaires

Shared letters: aeimnrté. Private to "intérimaire": -. Private to "intérimaires": s.

"intérimaire" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVCV  ·  "intérimaires" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCVCVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "intérimaire" for "intérimaires" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɛ̃.te.ʁi.mɛʁ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "intérimaire" vs "intérimaires" - which ranks higher?
"intérimaire" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,322 in our French list, against #33,740 for "intérimaires". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "intérimaire" / "intérimaires". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "intérimaire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intérimaires" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #143,365 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics

Confusion rank #143,365 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