savoirvssavoirsConfusable pair

Quick tell: savoir is a verb, savoirs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“savoir” is a verb and “savoirs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#251
“savoir” frequency rank
#15,251
“savoirs” frequency rank
15502
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature savoir savoirs
Definition Appréhender par l’esprit ou la connaissance ; connaître de façon certaine. Pluriel de savoir.

Same sound, different letters: savoir vs savoirs

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. savoir runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against savoirs's 7 (CVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
savoir
7 ch
savoirs

Same sound, different spelling - savoir / savoirs

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: savoir and savoirs carry the same recorded pronunciation, \sa.vwaʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “savoir” sits inside “savoirs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15502, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

savoir is recorded at frequency rank #251, classified as averb, pronounced \sa.vwaʁ\. savoirs is at rank #15,251, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sa.vwaʁ\.

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 15502, this pair ranks #392,065 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of savoir vs savoirs

Shared letters: aiorsv. Private to "savoir": -. Private to "savoirs": -.

"savoir" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "savoirs" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • savoir ← asvoir · saovir · savior · savoirr · savori · savvoir · ssavoir · svaoir
  • savoirs ← asvoirs · saovirs · saviors · savoirrs · savoirss · savoisr · savoris · savvoirs

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "savoir" and "savoirs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "savoir" is a verb and "savoirs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "savoir" or "savoirs"?
"savoir" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #251 in our French list, against #15,251 for "savoirs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "savoir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "savoirs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #392,065 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "savoir" and "savoirs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "savoir vs Savoy". 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 #392,065 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