Which to use
“lieutenant” and “lieutenants” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,523
- “lieutenant” frequency rank
- #21,992
- “lieutenants” frequency rank
- 24515
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lieutenant | lieutenants |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui est immédiatement au-dessous d’un chef, qu’il supplée dans certains cas. | Pluriel de lieutenant. |
Same sound, different letters: lieutenant vs lieutenants
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. lieutenant runs 10 letters (CVVVCVCVCC) against lieutenants's 11 (CVVVCVCVCCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - lieutenant / lieutenants
This is the hard kind. lieutenant and lieutenants are pronounced identically (\ljøt.nɑ̃\) 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) - “lieutenant” sits inside “lieutenants”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24515, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lieutenant is recorded at frequency rank #2,523, classified as anoun, pronounced \ljøt.nɑ̃\. lieutenants is at rank #21,992, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ljøt.nɑ̃\.
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 24515, this pair ranks #346,187 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lieutenant vs lieutenants
Shared letters: aeilntu. Private to "lieutenant": -. Private to "lieutenants": s.
"lieutenant" · 10 letters · shape CVVVCVCVCC · "lieutenants" · 11 letters · shape CVVVCVCVCCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- lieutenant ← ileutenant · leiutenant · lietuenant · lieuetnant · lieuteannt · lieutenannt · lieutenantt · lieutenatn
- lieutenants ← ileutenants · leiutenants · lietuenants · lieuetnants · lieuteannts · lieutenannts · lieutenanst · lieutenantss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lieutenant" for "lieutenants" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lieutenant" vs "lieutenants" - which ranks higher?
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 "lieutenant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lieutenants" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #346,187 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #346,187 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.