Which to use
“population” and “populations” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #545
- “population” frequency rank
- #2,590
- “populations” frequency rank
- 3135
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | population | populations |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Ensemble d’habitants vivant dans un pays ou un lieu. | Pluriel de population. |
Same sound, different letters: population vs populations
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - population / populations
This is the hard kind. population and populations are pronounced identically (\pɔ.py.la.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) - “population” sits inside “populations”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3135, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
population is recorded at frequency rank #545, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.py.la.sjɔ̃\. populations is at rank #2,590, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.py.la.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 3135, this pair ranks #434,717 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of population vs populations
Shared letters: ailnoptu. Private to "population": -. Private to "populations": s.
"population" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVC · "populations" · 11 letters · shape CVCVCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- population ← oppulation · popluation · poppulation · popualtion · populaiton · populatino · populationn · populatoin
- populations ← oppulations · popluations · poppulations · popualtions · populaitons · populatinos · populationns · populationss
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "population" and "populations" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "population" or "populations" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "population" / "populations". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "population" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "populations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #434,717 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 #434,717 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.