masculinvsmasculinesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,873
“masculin” frequency rank
#22,616
“masculines” frequency rank
27489
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature masculin masculines
Definition Qui est de sexe mâle, qui a rapport à ce sexe. Féminin pluriel de masculin.

Where the eye mixes masculin and masculines

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

8 ch
masculin
10 ch
masculines

Look-alike desk: masculin vs masculines

A purely visual mix-up. masculin (\mas.ky.lɛ̃\) and masculines (\mas.ky.lin\) 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) - “masculin” sits inside “masculines”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27489, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

masculin is recorded at frequency rank #4,873, classified as anadj, pronounced \mas.ky.lɛ̃\. masculines is at rank #22,616, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mas.ky.lin\.

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 27489, this pair ranks #328,642 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of masculin vs masculines

Shared letters: acilmnsu. Private to "masculin": -. Private to "masculines": e.

"masculin" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCVC  ·  "masculines" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • masculin ← amsculin · macsulin · mascculin · mascluin · mascuiln · masculinn · mascullin · masculni
  • masculines ← amsculines · macsulines · mascculines · mascluines · mascuilnes · masculiens · masculiness · masculinnes

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "masculin" and "masculines" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\mas.ky.lɛ̃\ versus \mas.ky.lin\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "masculin" vs "masculines" - which ranks higher?
"masculin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,873 in our French list, against #22,616 for "masculines". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "masculin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "masculines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #328,642 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "masculin" and "masculines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masculines vs masculins". 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 #328,642 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