plaisirvsplaisirsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#588
“plaisir” frequency rank
#8,753
“plaisirs” frequency rank
9341
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature plaisir plaisirs
Definition Sentiment, sensation agréable. Pluriel de plaisir.

Where the eye mixes plaisir and plaisirs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. plaisir runs 7 letters (CCVVCVC) against plaisirs's 8 (CCVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
plaisir
8 ch
plaisirs

Visual trap between plaisir and plaisirs

A purely visual mix-up. plaisir (\ple.ziʁ\) and plaisirs (\plɛ.ziʁ\) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “plaisir” sits inside “plaisirs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9341, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

plaisir is recorded at frequency rank #588, classified as anoun, pronounced \ple.ziʁ\. plaisirs is at rank #8,753, tagged as anoun, pronounced \plɛ.ziʁ\.

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 9341, this pair ranks #417,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of plaisir vs plaisirs

Shared letters: ailprs. Private to "plaisir": -. Private to "plaisirs": -.

"plaisir" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC  ·  "plaisirs" · 8 letters · shape CCVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • plaisirlpaisir · palisir · plaiisr · plaisirr · plaisri · plaissir · plasiir · pliasir
  • plaisirslpaisirs · palisirs · plaiisrs · plaisirrs · plaisirss · plaisisr · plaisris · plaissirs

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "plaisir" and "plaisirs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ple.ziʁ\ versus \plɛ.ziʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "plaisir" or "plaisirs"?
"plaisir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #588 in our French list, against #8,753 for "plaisirs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "plaisir" and "plaisirs" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "plaisir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "plaisirs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #417,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "plaisir" and "plaisirs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "plaisez vs plaisir". 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 #417,012 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