Which to use
“licences” and “licenciée” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #11,247
- “licences” frequency rank
- #36,473
- “licenciée” frequency rank
- 47720
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | licences | licenciée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de licence. | Femme qui, dans les facultés de lettres, de sciences, de droit, a obtenu son diplôme de licence. |
Where the eye mixes licences and licenciée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. licences runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against licenciée's 9 (CVCVCCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses licences with licenciée
A purely visual mix-up. licences (\li.sɑ̃s\) and licenciée (\li.sɑ̃.sje\) 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 47720, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
licences is recorded at frequency rank #11,247, classified as anoun, pronounced \li.sɑ̃s\. licenciée is at rank #36,473, tagged as anoun, pronounced \li.sɑ̃.sje\.
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 47720, this pair ranks #184,697 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of licences vs licenciée
Shared letters: ceiln. Private to "licences": s. Private to "licenciée": é.
"licences" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "licenciée" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- licences ← ilcences · lciences · liccences · licecnes · licencces · licencess · licencse · licenecs
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "licences" and "licenciée" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "licences" vs "licenciée" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "licences" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "licenciée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #184,697 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "licences" and "licenciée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "licenciée vs licencier". 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 #184,697 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.