principal vs principes, What's the Difference?

Which to use

“principal” is an adjective and “principes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,233
“principal” frequency rank: #2,635
“principes” frequency rank: 3868
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature	principal	principes
Definition	Qui est le premier, le plus considérable, le plus remarquable en son genre.	Pluriel de principe.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set principal and principes apart are highlighted. They share 7 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch

principal

9 ch

principes

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: principal is \pʁɛ̃.si.pal\ while principes is \pʁɛ̃.sip\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 3868, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

principal is recorded at frequency rank #1,233, classified as anadj, pronounced \pʁɛ̃.si.pal\. principes is at rank #2,635, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɛ̃.sip\.

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 3868, this pair ranks #433,013 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of principal vs principes

Shared letters: cinpr. Private to "principal": al. Private to "principes": es.

"principal" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCVC · "principes" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

principal ← pirncipal · pprincipal · pricnipal · princcipal · princiapl · principall · principla · princippal
principes ← pirncipes · pprincipes · pricnipes · princcipes · princieps · principess · princippes · principse

Frequency comparison

principal#1,233

principes#2,635

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "principal" and "principes" be used interchangeably?

No - they are not even the same part of speech. "principal" is an adjective and "principes" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.

Which is more common, "principal" or "principes"?

"principal" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,233 in our French list, against #2,635 for "principes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering principal vs principes

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “principal”; for a noun, it's “principes”.
See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “principal” entry
Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable