religionvsreligionsTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,189
“religion” frequency rank
#4,978
“religions” frequency rank
6167
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature religion religions
Definition Système de représentation du monde et de croyances fondé sur la foi, et consolidé par l’accomplissement de rites dans le cadre d’un culte rendu à une ou plusieurs puissances, souvent célestes. Pluriel de religion.

Same sound, different letters: religion vs religions

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. religion runs 8 letters (CVCVCVVC) against religions's 9 (CVCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
religion
9 ch
religions

Ear matches; page differs - religion and religions

This is the hard kind. religion and religions are pronounced identically (\ʁə.li.ʒjɔ̃\) and both work as anoun. 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) - “religion” sits inside “religions”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6167, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

religion is recorded at frequency rank #1,189, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.li.ʒjɔ̃\. religions is at rank #4,978, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁə.li.ʒjɔ̃\.

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 6167, this pair ranks #426,997 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of religion vs religions

Shared letters: egilnor. Private to "religion": -. Private to "religions": s.

"religion" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "religions" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • religion ← erligion · reilgion · relgiion · religgion · religino · religionn · religoin · reliigon
  • religions ← erligions · reilgions · relgiions · religgions · religinos · religionns · religionss · religiosn

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "religion" and "religions" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ʁə.li.ʒjɔ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "religion" vs "religions" - which ranks higher?
"religion" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,189 in our French list, against #4,978 for "religions". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "religion" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "religions" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #426,997 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "religion" and "religions" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "religions vs révisions". 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 #426,997 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