Which to use
“maternelle” is a noun and “maternelles” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #4,426
- “maternelle” frequency rank
- #19,070
- “maternelles” frequency rank
- 23496
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | maternelle | maternelles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | École ou niveau d'une école regroupant les jeunes enfants d’âge préscolaire. | Féminin pluriel de maternel. |
Same sound, different letters: maternelle vs maternelles
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. maternelle runs 10 letters (CVCVCCVCCV) against maternelles's 11 (CVCVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - maternelle and maternelles
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: maternelle and maternelles carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ma.tɛʁ.nɛl\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “maternelle” sits inside “maternelles”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23496, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
maternelle is recorded at frequency rank #4,426, classified as anoun, 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 23496, this pair ranks #352,174 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of maternelle vs maternelles
Shared letters: aelmnrt. Private to "maternelle": -. Private to "maternelles": s.
"maternelle" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCV · "maternelles" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- maternelle ← amternelle · maetrnelle · matenrelle · materenlle · maternele · maternelel · maternlele · maternnelle
- maternelles ← amternelles · maetrnelles · matenrelles · materenlles · maternelels · materneles · maternelless · maternellse
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "maternelle" and "maternelles" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "maternelle" or "maternelles" show up more?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "maternelle" 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 #352,174 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "maternelle" 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 #352,174 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.