interpellationvsinterpellationsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#14,490
“interpellation” frequency rank
#24,640
“interpellations” frequency rank
39130
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature interpellation interpellations
Definition Action d’interpeller. Pluriel de interpellation.

Where the eye mixes interpellation and interpellations

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 14 letters in sequence.

14 ch
interpellation
15 ch
interpellations

Why the eye confuses interpellation with interpellations

A purely visual mix-up. interpellation (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.la.sjɔ̃\) and interpellations (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.la.sjɔ̃\) 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 extra letter(s) - “interpellation” sits inside “interpellations”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39130, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

interpellation is recorded at frequency rank #14,490, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.la.sjɔ̃\. interpellations is at rank #24,640, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.la.sjɔ̃\.

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 39130, this pair ranks #250,289 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of interpellation vs interpellations

Shared letters: aeilnoprt. Private to "interpellation": -. Private to "interpellations": s.

"interpellation" · 14 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVCVVC  ·  "interpellations" · 15 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • interpellationinetrpellation · innterpellation · inteprellation · interepllation · interpelaltion · interpelation · interpellaiton · interpellatino
  • interpellationsinetrpellations · innterpellations · inteprellations · interepllations · interpelaltions · interpelations · interpellaitons · interpellatinos

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "interpellation" and "interpellations" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pɛ.la.sjɔ̃\ versus \ɛ̃.tɛʁ.pe.la.sjɔ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "interpellation" vs "interpellations" - which ranks higher?
"interpellation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,490 in our French list, against #24,640 for "interpellations". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "interpellation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "interpellations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #250,289 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "interpellation" and "interpellations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "interpellation vs interpolation". 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 #250,289 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