lutinvslutinsTell them apart

Quick tell: lutin is a noun, lutins is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#29,029
“lutin” frequency rank
#29,426
“lutins” frequency rank
58455
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature lutin lutins
Definition Petit démon ou esprit follet qui vient la nuit tourmenter les vivants. Masculin pluriel de lutin.

Same sound, different letters: lutin vs lutins

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. lutin runs 5 letters (CVCVC) against lutins's 6 (CVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
lutin
6 ch
lutins

Homophone desk: lutin vs lutins

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: lutin and lutins carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ly.tɛ̃\. 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) - “lutin” sits inside “lutins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58455, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

lutin is recorded at frequency rank #29,029, classified as anoun, pronounced \ly.tɛ̃\. lutins is at rank #29,426, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ly.tɛ̃\.

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 58455, this pair ranks #108,984 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of lutin vs lutins

Shared letters: ilntu. Private to "lutin": -. Private to "lutins": s.

"lutin" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "lutins" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • lutin ← llutin · ltuin · luitn · lutinn · lutni · luttin · ultin
  • lutins ← llutins · ltuins · luitns · lutinns · lutinss · lutisn · lutnis · luttins

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "lutin" and "lutins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "lutin" is a noun and "lutins" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "lutin" vs "lutins" - which ranks higher?
"lutin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,029 in our French list, against #29,426 for "lutins". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "lutin" / "lutins". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "lutin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "lutins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #108,984 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "lutin" and "lutins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "login vs lutin". 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 #108,984 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list