méconnuevsméconnuesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#23,949
“méconnue” frequency rank
#40,387
“méconnues” frequency rank
64336
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature méconnue méconnues
Definition Celle à laquelle on ne rend pas justice, dont on n’apprécie pas le mérite. Pluriel de méconnue.

Same sound, different letters: méconnue vs méconnues

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. méconnue runs 8 letters (CVCVCCVV) against méconnues's 9 (CVCVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
méconnue
9 ch
méconnues

Homophone desk: méconnue vs méconnues

This is the hard kind. méconnue and méconnues are pronounced identically (\me.kɔ.ny\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “méconnue” sits inside “méconnues”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 64336, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

méconnue is recorded at frequency rank #23,949, classified as anoun, pronounced \me.kɔ.ny\. méconnues is at rank #40,387, tagged as anoun, pronounced \me.kɔ.ny\.

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 64336, this pair ranks #77,546 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of méconnue vs méconnues

Shared letters: cemnoué. Private to "méconnue": -. Private to "méconnues": s.

"méconnue" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVV  ·  "méconnues" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "méconnue" and "méconnues" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\me.kɔ.ny\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary French text, does "méconnue" or "méconnues" show up more?
"méconnue" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #23,949 in our French list, against #40,387 for "méconnues". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

You've separated the homophone pair "méconnue" / "méconnues". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "méconnue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "méconnues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #77,546 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "méconnue" and "méconnues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "méconnues vs méconnus". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #77,546 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