Which to use
“modern” and “modernes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,694
- “modern” frequency rank
- #3,547
- “modernes” frequency rank
- 25241
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | modern | modernes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Moderne. | Pluriel de moderne. |
Where the eye mixes modern and modernes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. modern runs 6 letters (CVCVCC) against modernes's 8 (CVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses modern with modernes
A purely visual mix-up. modern (\mɔ.ˈdern\) and modernes (\mɔ.dɛʁn\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “modern” sits inside “modernes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 25241, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
modern is recorded at frequency rank #21,694, classified as anadj, pronounced \mɔ.ˈdern\. modernes is at rank #3,547, tagged as anadj, pronounced \mɔ.dɛʁn\.
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 25241, this pair ranks #341,977 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of modern vs modernes
Shared letters: demnor. Private to "modern": -. Private to "modernes": s.
"modern" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC · "modernes" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "modern" and "modernes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "modern" or "modernes"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "modern" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "modernes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #341,977 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "modern" and "modernes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "modern vs moser". 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 #341,977 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.