renforcevsrenforcésWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#8,297
“renforce” frequency rank
#22,677
“renforcés” frequency rank
30974
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature renforce renforcés
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de renforcer. Participe passé masculin pluriel de renforcer.

Where the eye mixes renforce and renforcés

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
renforce
9 ch
renforcés

Visual trap between renforce and renforcés

A purely visual mix-up. renforce (\ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs\) and renforcés (\ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.se\) 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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30974, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

renforce is recorded at frequency rank #8,297, classified as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs\. renforcés is at rank #22,677, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.se\.

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 30974, this pair ranks #306,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of renforce vs renforcés

Shared letters: cefnor. Private to "renforce": -. Private to "renforcés": .

"renforce" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV  ·  "renforcés" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • renforceernforce · refnorce · renfforce · renfocre · renforcce · renforec · renforrce · renfroce

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "renforce" and "renforcés" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁɑ̃.fɔʁs\ versus \ʁɑ̃.fɔʁ.se\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "renforce" vs "renforcés" - which ranks higher?
"renforce" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,297 in our French list, against #22,677 for "renforcés". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "renforce" and "renforcés" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "renforce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "renforcés" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #306,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "renforce" and "renforcés" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réformés vs renforcés". 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 #306,815 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