obscène vs obscènes, What's the Difference?

Which to use

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

#27,155
“obscène” frequency rank: #38,949
“obscènes” frequency rank: 66104
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	obscène	obscènes
Definition	Qui blesse ouvertement, qui heurte la décence, la pudeur ou le bon goût.	Pluriel de obscène.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set obscène and obscènes apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch

obscène

8 ch

obscènes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. obscène and obscènes are pronounced identically (\ɔp.sɛn\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “obscène” sits inside “obscènes”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 66104, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

obscène is recorded at frequency rank #27,155, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɔp.sɛn\. obscènes is at rank #38,949, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɔp.sɛn\.

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 66104, this pair ranks #69,281 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of obscène vs obscènes

Shared letters: bcenosè. Private to "obscène": -. Private to "obscènes": -.

"obscène" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVCV · "obscènes" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVCVC

Frequency comparison

obscène#27,155

obscènes#38,949

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "obscène" and "obscènes" be used interchangeably?

No. They are pronounced the same (\ɔp.sɛn\), 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, "obscène" or "obscènes"?

"obscène" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,155 in our French list, against #38,949 for "obscènes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering obscène vs obscènes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “obscène” entry
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