littéraires vs littératures, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“littéraires” is an adjective and “littératures” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,626
“littéraires” frequency rank: #25,384
“littératures” frequency rank: 32010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	littéraires	littératures
Definition	Pluriel de littéraire.	Pluriel de littérature.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set littéraires and littératures apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

11 ch

littéraires

12 ch

littératures

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: littéraires is \li.te.ʁɛʁ\ while littératures is \li.te.ʁa.tyʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

littéraires is recorded at frequency rank #6,626, classified as anadj, pronounced \li.te.ʁɛʁ\. littératures is at rank #25,384, tagged as anoun, pronounced \li.te.ʁa.tyʁ\.

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 32010, this pair ranks #300,157 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of littéraires vs littératures

Shared letters: aeilrsté. Private to "littéraires": -. Private to "littératures": u.

"littéraires" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCVC · "littératures" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVCVC

Frequency comparison

littéraires#6,626

littératures#25,384

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "littéraires" and "littératures" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "littéraires" is an adjective and "littératures" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "littéraires" or "littératures"?

"littéraires" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,626 in our French list, against #25,384 for "littératures". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering littéraires vs littératures

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “littéraires”; for a noun, it's “littératures”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “littéraires” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable