Which to use
“locomotive” is a noun and “locomotives” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,172
- “locomotive” frequency rank
- #21,380
- “locomotives” frequency rank
- 37552
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | locomotive | locomotives |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Machine actionnée par la vapeur, le fioul ou l’électricité, montée sur roues, qui sert à la traction de voitures et/ou de wagons placée sur une voie ferrée, ou rarement sur route. | Féminin pluriel de locomotif. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set locomotive and locomotives apart are highlighted. They share 10 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
locomotive and locomotives form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “locomotive” sits inside “locomotives” - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37552, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
locomotive is recorded at frequency rank #16,172, classified as anoun, pronounced \lo.ko.mɔ.tiv\. locomotives is at rank #21,380, tagged as anadj, pronounced \lɔ.kɔ.mɔ.tiv\.
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 37552, this pair ranks #261,681 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "locomotive" and "locomotives" be used interchangeably?
Remembering locomotive vs locomotives
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “locomotive”; for an adjective, it's “locomotives”.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “locomotive” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable