migrainevsmigrainesTell them apart

Which to use

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

#19,600
“migraine” frequency rank
#26,436
“migraines” frequency rank
46036
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature migraine migraines
Definition Maladie chronique caractérisée par des céphalées localisées récurrentes (douleurs qui affectent une partie de la tête), associées à des nausées ou une exacerbation sensorielle entrainant une photophobie ou phonophobie (craintes de la lumière ou des sons). Pluriel de migraine.

Same sound, different letters: migraine vs migraines

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

8 ch
migraine
9 ch
migraines

Ear matches; page differs - migraine and migraines

This is the hard kind. migraine and migraines are pronounced identically (\mi.ɡʁɛn\) 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) - “migraine” sits inside “migraines”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46036, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

migraine is recorded at frequency rank #19,600, classified as anoun, pronounced \mi.ɡʁɛn\. migraines is at rank #26,436, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mi.ɡʁɛn\.

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 46036, this pair ranks #198,126 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of migraine vs migraines

Shared letters: aegimnr. Private to "migraine": -. Private to "migraines": s.

"migraine" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV  ·  "migraines" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • migraine ← imgraine · mgiraine · migarine · miggraine · migraien · migrainne · migranie · migriane
  • migraines ← imgraines · mgiraines · migarines · miggraines · migraiens · migrainess · migrainnes · migrainse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "migraine" for "migraines" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\mi.ɡʁɛn\), 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 "migraine" or "migraines" show up more?
"migraine" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #19,600 in our French list, against #26,436 for "migraines". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "migraine" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "migraines" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #198,126 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "migraine" and "migraines" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "migraine vs mitaine". 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 #198,126 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