Which to use
“paternelle” and “paternels” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #20,228
- “paternelle” frequency rank
- #48,094
- “paternels” frequency rank
- 68322
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | paternelle | paternels |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de paternel. | Masculin pluriel de paternel. |
Same sound, different letters: paternelle vs paternels
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters.
Homophone desk: paternelle vs paternels
This is the hard kind. paternelle and paternels are pronounced identically (\pa.tɛʁ.nɛl\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68322, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
paternelle is recorded at frequency rank #20,228, classified as anadj, pronounced \pa.tɛʁ.nɛl\. paternels is at rank #48,094, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pa.tɛʁ.nɛl\.
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 68322, this pair ranks #59,647 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of paternelle vs paternels
Shared letters: aelnprt. Private to "paternelle": -. Private to "paternels": s.
"paternelle" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVCCV · "paternels" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- paternelle ← apternelle · paetrnelle · patenrelle · paterenlle · paternele · paternelel · paternlele · paternnelle
- paternels ← apternels · paetrnels · patenrels · paterenls · paternells · paternelss · paternesl · paternles
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "paternelle" and "paternels" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "paternelle" or "paternels" show up more?
After this comparison
"paternelle" and "paternels" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "paternelle" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "paternels" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #59,647 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "paternelle" and "paternels" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "paternel vs paternels". 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 #59,647 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.