Which to use
“montagne” and “montagnes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,001
- “montagne” frequency rank
- #3,088
- “montagnes” frequency rank
- 5089
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | montagne | montagnes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Relief topographique présentant des versants prononcés (par opposition à « haut plateau » situé en altitude mais ne présentant pas le caractère montagneux). | Pluriel de montagne. |
Same sound, different letters: montagne vs montagnes
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. montagne runs 8 letters (CVCCVCCV) against montagnes's 9 (CVCCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: montagne vs montagnes
This is the hard kind. montagne and montagnes are pronounced identically (\mɔ̃.taɲ\) 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) - “montagne” sits inside “montagnes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5089, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
montagne is recorded at frequency rank #2,001, classified as anoun, pronounced \mɔ̃.taɲ\. montagnes is at rank #3,088, tagged as anoun, pronounced \mɔ̃.taɲ\.
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 5089, this pair ranks #429,929 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of montagne vs montagnes
Shared letters: aegmnot. Private to "montagne": -. Private to "montagnes": s.
"montagne" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "montagnes" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "montagne" for "montagnes" ever safe?
Frequency check: "montagne" vs "montagnes" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
You've separated the homophone pair "montagne" / "montagnes". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "montagne" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "montagnes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #429,929 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "montagne" and "montagnes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "mondaines vs montagnes". 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 #429,929 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.