paramètrevsparamètresWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,957
“paramètre” frequency rank
#7,097
“paramètres” frequency rank
23054
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature paramètre paramètres
Definition Constante qui fixe la position d’une figure géométrique. Il a différentes acceptions selon les courbes auxquelles on l’applique. Pluriel de paramètre.

Same sound, different letters: paramètre vs paramètres

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. paramètre runs 9 letters (CVCVCVCCV) against paramètres's 10 (CVCVCVCCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
paramètre
10 ch
paramètres

Same sound, different spelling - paramètre / paramètres

This is the hard kind. paramètre and paramètres are pronounced identically (\pa.ʁa.mɛtʁ\) 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) - “paramètre” sits inside “paramètres”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23054, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

paramètre is recorded at frequency rank #15,957, classified as anoun, pronounced \pa.ʁa.mɛtʁ\. paramètres is at rank #7,097, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pa.ʁa.mɛtʁ\.

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 23054, this pair ranks #354,632 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of paramètre vs paramètres

Shared letters: aemprtè. Private to "paramètre": -. Private to "paramètres": s.

"paramètre" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVCCV  ·  "paramètres" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "paramètre" for "paramètres" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\pa.ʁa.mɛtʁ\), 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, "paramètre" or "paramètres"?
"paramètres" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,097 in our French list, against #15,957 for "paramètre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "paramètre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "paramètres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #354,632 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "paramètre" and "paramètres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paramètres vs périmètres". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #354,632 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