postérieurevspostérieuresWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#20,528
“postérieure” frequency rank
#23,985
“postérieures” frequency rank
44513
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature postérieure postérieures
Definition Féminin singulier de postérieur. Féminin pluriel de postérieur.

Same sound, different letters: postérieure vs postérieures

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 11 letters.

11 ch
postérieure
12 ch
postérieures

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. postérieure 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 1 extra letter(s) - “postérieure” sits inside “postérieures”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 44513, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

postérieure is recorded at frequency rank #20,528, 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 44513, this pair ranks #209,924 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of postérieure vs postérieures

Shared letters: eioprstué. Private to "postérieure": -. Private to "postérieures": -.

"postérieure" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVVVCV  ·  "postérieures" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "postérieure" and "postérieures" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\pɔs.te.ʁjœʁ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "postérieure" or "postérieures"?
"postérieure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #20,528 in our French list, against #23,985 for "postérieures". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list