masculinesvsmasculinsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#22,616
“masculines” frequency rank
#12,196
“masculins” frequency rank
34812
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature masculines masculins
Definition Féminin pluriel de masculin. Masculin pluriel de masculin.

Where the eye mixes masculines and masculins

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence.

10 ch
masculines
9 ch
masculins

Visual trap between masculines and masculins

A purely visual mix-up. masculines (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34812, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

masculines is recorded at frequency rank #22,616, 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 34812, this pair ranks #281,179 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of masculines vs masculins

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

"masculines" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVC  ·  "masculins" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • masculinesamsculines · macsulines · mascculines · mascluines · mascuilnes · masculiens · masculiness · masculinnes
  • masculinsamsculins · macsulins · mascculins · mascluins · mascuilns · masculinns · masculinss · masculisn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "masculines" and "masculins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\mas.ky.lin\ versus \mas.ky.lɛ̃\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "masculines" or "masculins"?
"masculins" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #12,196 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.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "masculines" 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 #281,179 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "masculines" and "masculins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "masculine vs masculines". 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 #281,179 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