Which to use
“licencié” is a noun and “licenciés” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,076
- “licencié” frequency rank
- #17,991
- “licenciés” frequency rank
- 32067
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | licencié | licenciés |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne qui, dans les facultés de lettres, de sciences, de droit, a obtenu son diplôme de licence. | Masculin pluriel de licencié. |
Same sound, different letters: licencié vs licenciés
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. licencié runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVV) against licenciés's 9 (CVCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - licencié and licenciés
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: licencié and licenciés carry the same recorded pronunciation, \li.sɑ̃.sje\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “licencié” sits inside “licenciés”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32067, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
licencié is recorded at frequency rank #14,076, classified as anoun, pronounced \li.sɑ̃.sje\. licenciés is at rank #17,991, tagged as anadj, 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 32067, this pair ranks #299,754 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of licencié vs licenciés
Shared letters: ceilné. Private to "licencié": -. Private to "licenciés": s.
"licencié" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV · "licenciés" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "licencié" and "licenciés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "licencié" or "licenciés"?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "licencié" / "licenciés". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "licencié" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "licenciés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #299,754 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "licencié" and "licenciés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "licenciée vs licenciés". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #299,754 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.