Which to use
“spécifique” and “spécifiques” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #3,226
- “spécifique” frequency rank
- #4,716
- “spécifiques” frequency rank
- 7942
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | spécifique | spécifiques |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | [Postposé] Qui est propre à quelque chose ou à quelqu’un en particulier. | Pluriel de spécifique. |
Same sound, different letters: spécifique vs spécifiques
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters. spécifique runs 10 letters (CCVCVCVCVV) against spécifiques's 11 (CCVCVCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - spécifique / spécifiques
This is the hard kind. spécifique and spécifiques are pronounced identically (\spe.si.fik\) and both work as anadjective. 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) - “spécifique” sits inside “spécifiques”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 7942, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
spécifique is recorded at frequency rank #3,226, classified as anadj, pronounced \spe.si.fik\. spécifiques is at rank #4,716, tagged as anadj, pronounced \spe.si.fik\.
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 7942, this pair ranks #421,641 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of spécifique vs spécifiques
Shared letters: cefipqsué. Private to "spécifique": -. Private to "spécifiques": -.
"spécifique" · 10 letters · shape CCVCVCVCVV · "spécifiques" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVCVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "spécifique" and "spécifiques" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "spécifique" vs "spécifiques" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
"spécifique" and "spécifiques" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "spécifique" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "spécifiques" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #421,641 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "spécifique" and "spécifiques" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "spécifie vs spécifique". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #421,641 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.