Which to use
“maternel” and “maternelles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,197
- “maternel” frequency rank
- #19,070
- “maternelles” frequency rank
- 31267
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maternel | maternelles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est propre à la mère, qui est naturel à une mère. | Féminin pluriel de maternel. |
Same sound, different letters: maternel vs maternelles
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. maternel runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVC) against maternelles's 11 (CVCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: maternel vs maternelles
This is the hard kind. maternel and maternelles are pronounced identically (\ma.tɛʁ.nɛl\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 3 extra letter(s) - “maternel” sits inside “maternelles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31267, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maternel is recorded at frequency rank #12,197, classified as anadj, pronounced \ma.tɛʁ.nɛl\. maternelles is at rank #19,070, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ma.tɛʁ.nɛl\.
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 31267, this pair ranks #304,870 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of maternel vs maternelles
Shared letters: aelmnrt. Private to "maternel": -. Private to "maternelles": s.
"maternel" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "maternelles" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- maternel ← amternel · maetrnel · matenrel · materenl · maternell · maternle · maternnel · materrnel
- maternelles ← amternelles · maetrnelles · matenrelles · materenlles · maternelels · materneles · maternelless · maternellse
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maternel" and "maternelles" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "maternel" or "maternelles"?
Useful next steps
"maternel" and "maternelles" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "maternel" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "maternelles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #304,870 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maternel" and "maternelles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "maternelles vs maternels". 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 #304,870 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.