Which to use
“lycéens” is an adjective and “lycées” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,879
- “lycéens” frequency rank
- #8,419
- “lycées” frequency rank
- 17298
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | lycéens | lycées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Masculin pluriel de lycéen. | Pluriel de lycée. |
Where the eye mixes lycéens and lycées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. lycéens runs 7 letters (CVCVVCC) against lycées's 6 (CVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between lycéens and lycées
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: lycéens is \li.se.ɛ̃\ while lycées is \li.se\. 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 17298, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
lycéens is recorded at frequency rank #8,879, classified as anadj, pronounced \li.se.ɛ̃\. lycées is at rank #8,419, tagged as anoun, pronounced \li.se\.
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 17298, this pair ranks #383,857 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of lycéens vs lycées
Shared letters: celsyé. Private to "lycéens": n. Private to "lycées": -.
"lycéens" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC · "lycées" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "lycéens" for "lycées" ever safe?
Frequency check: "lycéens" vs "lycées" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "lycéens" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lycées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #383,857 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "lycéens" and "lycées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loches vs lycées". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #383,857 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.