Which to use
“pharmacien” and “pharmacies” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,019
- “pharmacien” frequency rank
- #20,233
- “pharmacies” frequency rank
- 32252
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | pharmacien | pharmacies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui exerce la pharmacie. Au sens strict : celui qui maîtrise l’usage des substances actives capables de guérir ou de nuire. | Pluriel de pharmacie. |
Where the eye mixes pharmacien and pharmacies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. pharmacien and pharmacies follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CCVCCVCVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses pharmacien with pharmacies
A purely visual mix-up. pharmacien (\faʁ.ma.sjɛ̃\) and pharmacies (\faʁ.ma.si\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - n in “pharmacien” becomes s in “pharmacies”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32252, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
pharmacien is recorded at frequency rank #12,019, classified as anoun, pronounced \faʁ.ma.sjɛ̃\. pharmacies is at rank #20,233, tagged as anoun, pronounced \faʁ.ma.si\.
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 32252, this pair ranks #298,479 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of pharmacien vs pharmacies
Shared letters: acehimpr. Private to "pharmacien": n. Private to "pharmacies": s.
"pharmacien" · 10 letters · shape CCVCCVCVVC · "pharmacies" · 10 letters · shape CCVCCVCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- pharmacien ← hparmacien · pahrmacien · phamracien · pharamcien · pharmaccien · pharmacein · pharmacienn · pharmacine
- pharmacies ← hparmacies · pahrmacies · phamracies · pharamcies · pharmaccies · pharmaceis · pharmaciess · pharmacise
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "pharmacien" for "pharmacies" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "pharmacien" or "pharmacies" show up more?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "pharmacien" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "pharmacies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #298,479 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "pharmacien" and "pharmacies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "pharmacien vs pharmacienne". 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 #298,479 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.