Which to use
“petit” and “petits” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #171
- “petit” frequency rank
- #587
- “petits” frequency rank
- 758
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | petit | petits |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | De taille réduite. | Masculin pluriel de petit. |
Same sound, different letters: petit vs petits
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Homophone desk: petit vs petits
This is the hard kind. petit and petits are pronounced identically (\pə.ti\) 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) - “petit” sits inside “petits”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 758, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
petit is recorded at frequency rank #171, classified as anadj, pronounced \pə.ti\. petits is at rank #587, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pə.ti\.
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 758, this pair ranks #439,167 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of petit vs petits
Shared letters: eipt. Private to "petit": -. Private to "petits": s.
"petit" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "petits" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "petit" and "petits" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "petit" or "petits" show up more?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "petit" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "petits" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,167 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "petit" and "petits" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pètes vs petits". 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 #439,167 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.