Which to use
“possession” and “possessions” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,558
- “possession” frequency rank
- #13,868
- “possessions” frequency rank
- 17426
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | possession | possessions |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Jouissance, faculté actuelle de disposer ou de jouir d’un bien. | Pluriel de possession. |
Where the eye mixes possession and possessions
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. possession runs 10 letters (CVCCVCCVVC) against possessions's 11 (CVCCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: possession vs possessions
A purely visual mix-up. possession (\pɔ.sɛ.sjɔ̃\) and possessions (\pɔ.se.sjɔ̃\) 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) - “possession” sits inside “possessions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 17426, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
possession is recorded at frequency rank #3,558, classified as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.sɛ.sjɔ̃\. possessions is at rank #13,868, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pɔ.se.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 17426, this pair ranks #383,225 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of possession vs possessions
Shared letters: einops. Private to "possession": -. Private to "possessions": -.
"possession" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC · "possessions" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- possession ← opssession · posession · posesssion · possesion · possesison · possessino · possessionn · possessoin
- possessions ← opssessions · posessions · posesssions · possesions · possesisons · possessinos · possessionns · possessionss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "possession" for "possessions" ever safe?
Frequency check: "possession" vs "possessions" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "possession" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "possessions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #383,225 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "possession" and "possessions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "possessif vs possession". 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 #383,225 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.