Which to use
“section” and “sections” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,574
- “section” frequency rank
- #6,756
- “sections” frequency rank
- 8330
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | section | sections |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action de couper, de diviser ou résultat de cette action. | Pluriel de section. |
Same sound, different letters: section vs sections
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters.
Homophone desk: section vs sections
This is the hard kind. section and sections are pronounced identically (\sɛk.sjɔ̃\) 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) - “section” sits inside “sections”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 8330, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
section is recorded at frequency rank #1,574, classified as anoun, pronounced \sɛk.sjɔ̃\. sections is at rank #6,756, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛk.sjɔ̃\.
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 8330, this pair ranks #420,383 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of section vs sections
Shared letters: ceinost. Private to "section": -. Private to "sections": -.
"section" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC · "sections" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "section" for "sections" ever safe?
Frequency check: "section" vs "sections" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
"section" and "sections" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "section" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sections" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #420,383 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "section" and "sections" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "sachions vs sections". 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 #420,383 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.