occurencevsoccurrencesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#38,456
“occurence” frequency rank
#36,075
“occurrences” frequency rank
74531
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature occurence occurrences
Definition Variante orthographique de occurrence. Pluriel de occurrence.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set occurence and occurrences apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
occurence
11 ch
occurrences

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. occurence and occurrences are pronounced identically (\ɔ.ky.ʁɑ̃s\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 74531, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

occurence is recorded at frequency rank #38,456, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.ky.ʁɑ̃s\. occurrences is at rank #36,075, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɔ.ky.ʁɑ̃s\.

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 74531, this pair ranks #36,859 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of occurence vs occurrences

Shared letters: cenoru. Private to "occurence": -. Private to "occurrences": s.

"occurence" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVCCV  ·  "occurrences" · 11 letters · shape VCCVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • occurencecocurence · occruence · occuernce · occurecne · occurencce · occurenec · occurennce · occurnece
  • occurrencescocurrences · occrurences · occurences · occurernces · occurrecnes · occurrencces · occurrencess · occurrencse

Frequency comparison

occurence#38,456
occurrences#36,075

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "occurence" and "occurrences" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ɔ.ky.ʁɑ̃s\), 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, "occurence" or "occurrences"?
"occurrences" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,075 in our French list, against #38,456 for "occurence". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering occurence vs occurrences

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 “occurence” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list