Which to use
“masculine” and “masculins” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,594
- “masculine” frequency rank
- #12,196
- “masculins” frequency rank
- 19790
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | masculine | masculins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de masculin. | Masculin pluriel de masculin. |
Where the eye mixes masculine and masculins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. masculine (CVCCVCVCV) and masculins (CVCCVCVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses masculine with masculins
A purely visual mix-up. masculine (\mas.ky.lin\) and masculins (\mas.ky.lɛ̃\) 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 a single letter - e in “masculine” becomes s in “masculins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19790, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
masculine is recorded at frequency rank #7,594, classified as anadj, pronounced \mas.ky.lin\. masculins is at rank #12,196, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mas.ky.lɛ̃\.
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 19790, this pair ranks #371,544 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of masculine vs masculins
Shared letters: acilmnsu. Private to "masculine": e. Private to "masculins": -.
"masculine" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCV · "masculins" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "masculine" and "masculins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "masculine" vs "masculins" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "masculine" and "masculins" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "masculine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "masculins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #371,544 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "masculine" and "masculins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masculine vs masculinité". 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 #371,544 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.