pollutionvspollutionsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#4,361
“pollution” frequency rank
#26,831
“pollutions” frequency rank
31192
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature pollution pollutions
Definition Diffusion dans l’environnement d’un produit potentiellement toxique ou de nature à perturber le fonctionnement d’un biotope. Pluriel de pollution.

Same sound, different letters: pollution vs pollutions

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters.

9 ch
pollution
10 ch
pollutions

Ear matches; page differs - pollution and pollutions

This is the hard kind. pollution and pollutions are pronounced identically (\pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\) 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) - “pollution” sits inside “pollutions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31192, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

pollution is recorded at frequency rank #4,361, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\. pollutions is at rank #26,831, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\.

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 31192, this pair ranks #305,393 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of pollution vs pollutions

Shared letters: ilnoptu. Private to "pollution": -. Private to "pollutions": s.

"pollution" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCVVC  ·  "pollutions" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • pollutionopllution · plolution · polltuion · polluiton · pollutino · pollutionn · pollutoin · polluttion
  • pollutionsopllutions · plolutions · polltuions · polluitons · pollutinos · pollutionns · pollutionss · pollutiosn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "pollution" and "pollutions" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\pɔ.ly.sjɔ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "pollution" vs "pollutions" - which ranks higher?
"pollution" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,361 in our French list, against #26,831 for "pollutions". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "pollution" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "pollutions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #305,393 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • 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 #305,393 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