profondesvsprofondeursTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,223
“profondes” frequency rank
#14,332
“profondeurs” frequency rank
21555
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature profondes profondeurs
Definition Pluriel de profonde. Pluriel de profondeur.

Where the eye mixes profondes and profondeurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. profondes runs 9 letters (CCVCVCCVC) against profondeurs's 11 (CCVCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
profondes
11 ch
profondeurs

Look-alike desk: profondes vs profondeurs

A purely visual mix-up. profondes (\pʁɔ.fɔ̃d\) and profondeurs (\pʁɔ.fɔ̃.dœʁ\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21555, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

profondes is recorded at frequency rank #7,223, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.fɔ̃d\. profondeurs is at rank #14,332, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɔ.fɔ̃.dœʁ\.

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 21555, this pair ranks #362,564 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of profondes vs profondeurs

Shared letters: defnoprs. Private to "profondes": -. Private to "profondeurs": u.

"profondes" · 9 letters · shape CCVCVCCVC  ·  "profondeurs" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • profondes ← porfondes · pprofondes · prfoondes · proffondes · profnodes · profodnes · profonddes · profondess
  • profondeurs ← porfondeurs · pprofondeurs · prfoondeurs · proffondeurs · profnodeurs · profodneurs · profonddeurs · profonderus

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "profondes" and "profondeurs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\pʁɔ.fɔ̃d\ versus \pʁɔ.fɔ̃.dœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "profondes" vs "profondeurs" - which ranks higher?
"profondes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,223 in our French list, against #14,332 for "profondeurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "profondes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "profondeurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #362,564 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "profondes" and "profondeurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "profondes vs prolongés". 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 #362,564 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list