nationalismevsnationalismesConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#10,544
“nationalisme” frequency rank
#47,476
“nationalismes” frequency rank
58020
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nationalisme nationalismes
Definition Sentiment qui consiste dans l’exaltation de l’idée nationale, doctrine politique basée sur ce sentiment. Pluriel de nationalisme.

Same sound, different letters: nationalisme vs nationalismes

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 12 letters. nationalisme runs 12 letters (CVCVVCVCVCCV) against nationalismes's 13 (CVCVVCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

12 ch
nationalisme
13 ch
nationalismes

Same sound, different spelling - nationalisme / nationalismes

This is the hard kind. nationalisme and nationalismes are pronounced identically (\na.sjɔ.na.lism\) 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) - “nationalisme” sits inside “nationalismes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58020, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nationalisme is recorded at frequency rank #10,544, classified as anoun, pronounced \na.sjɔ.na.lism\. nationalismes is at rank #47,476, tagged as anoun, pronounced \na.sjɔ.na.lism\.

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 58020, this pair ranks #111,546 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of nationalisme vs nationalismes

Shared letters: aeilmnost. Private to "nationalisme": -. Private to "nationalismes": -.

"nationalisme" · 12 letters · shape CVCVVCVCVCCV  ·  "nationalismes" · 13 letters · shape CVCVVCVCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nationalisme ← antionalisme · naitonalisme · natinoalisme · natioanlisme · nationailsme · nationalimse · nationalisem · nationalismme
  • nationalismes ← antionalismes · naitonalismes · natinoalismes · natioanlismes · nationailsmes · nationalimses · nationalisems · nationalismess

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "nationalisme" for "nationalismes" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\na.sjɔ.na.lism\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "nationalisme" or "nationalismes"?
"nationalisme" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,544 in our French list, against #47,476 for "nationalismes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

"nationalisme" and "nationalismes" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "nationalisme" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "nationalismes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #111,546 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "nationalisme" and "nationalismes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nationalismes vs nationalités". 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 #111,546 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