marquantvsmarquantesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“marquant” and “marquantes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#9,036
“marquant” frequency rank
#28,644
“marquantes” frequency rank
37680
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature marquant marquantes
Definition Qui se fait remarquer par des caractères particuliers, en parlant des personnes ou des choses. Féminin pluriel de marquant.

Where the eye mixes marquant and marquantes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. marquant runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCC) against marquantes's 10 (CVCCVVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
marquant
10 ch
marquantes

Why the eye confuses marquant with marquantes

A purely visual mix-up. marquant (\maʁ.kɑ̃\) and marquantes (\maʁ.kɑ̃t\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “marquant” sits inside “marquantes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37680, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

marquant is recorded at frequency rank #9,036, classified as anadj, pronounced \maʁ.kɑ̃\. marquantes is at rank #28,644, tagged as anadj, pronounced \maʁ.kɑ̃t\.

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 37680, this pair ranks #260,728 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of marquant vs marquantes

Shared letters: amnqrtu. Private to "marquant": -. Private to "marquantes": es.

"marquant" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC  ·  "marquantes" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • marquantamrquant · maqruant · marqaunt · marqquant · marquannt · marquantt · marquatn · marqunat
  • marquantesamrquantes · maqruantes · marqauntes · marqquantes · marquanets · marquanntes · marquantess · marquantse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "marquant" and "marquantes" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\maʁ.kɑ̃\ versus \maʁ.kɑ̃t\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "marquant" vs "marquantes" - which ranks higher?
"marquant" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,036 in our French list, against #28,644 for "marquantes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "marquant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "marquantes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #260,728 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "marquant" and "marquantes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "marquantes vs marrantes". 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 #260,728 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