Which to use
“postérieur” and “postérieures” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #21,730
- “postérieur” frequency rank
- #23,985
- “postérieures” frequency rank
- 45715
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | postérieur | postérieures |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui suit, qui est après dans l’ordre des temps. | Féminin pluriel de postérieur. |
Same sound, different letters: postérieur vs postérieures
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. postérieur runs 10 letters (CVCCVCVVVC) against postérieures's 12 (CVCCVCVVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - postérieur and postérieures
This is the hard kind. postérieur and postérieures are pronounced identically (\pɔs.te.ʁjœʁ\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “postérieur” sits inside “postérieures”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45715, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
postérieur is recorded at frequency rank #21,730, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɔs.te.ʁjœʁ\. postérieures is at rank #23,985, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɔs.te.ʁjœʁ\.
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 45715, this pair ranks #200,575 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of postérieur vs postérieures
Shared letters: eioprstué. Private to "postérieur": -. Private to "postérieures": -.
"postérieur" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCVVVC · "postérieures" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "postérieur" for "postérieures" ever safe?
Which is more common, "postérieur" or "postérieures"?
Useful next steps
"postérieur" and "postérieures" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "postérieur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "postérieures" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #200,575 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "postérieur" and "postérieures" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "postérieures vs postérieurs". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #200,575 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.