successifsvssuccessionWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: successifs is a adjective, succession is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“successifs” is an adjective and “succession” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#9,745
“successifs” frequency rank
#4,102
“succession” frequency rank
13847
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature successifs succession
Definition Masculin pluriel de successif. Suite ou série de personnes ou de choses qui se succèdent les unes aux autres sans interruption, ou à peu d’intervalle l’une de l’autre.

Where the eye mixes successifs and succession

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. successifs (CVCCVCCVCC) and succession (CVCCVCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

10 ch
successifs
10 ch
succession

Why the eye confuses successifs with succession

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: successifs is \syk.sɛ.sif\ while succession is \syk.se.sjɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13847, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

successifs is recorded at frequency rank #9,745, classified as anadj, pronounced \syk.sɛ.sif\. succession is at rank #4,102, tagged as anoun, pronounced \syk.se.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 13847, this pair ranks #399,304 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of successifs vs succession

Shared letters: ceisu. Private to "successifs": f. Private to "succession": no.

"successifs" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVCC  ·  "succession" · 10 letters · shape CVCCVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • successifsscucessifs · ssuccessifs · succesifs · succesisfs · successfis · successiffs · successifss · successisf
  • successionscucession · ssuccession · succesion · succesison · successino · successionn · successoin · succsesion

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "successifs" and "succession" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "successifs" is an adjective and "succession" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "successifs" vs "succession" - which ranks higher?
"succession" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,102 in our French list, against #9,745 for "successifs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "successifs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "succession" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #399,304 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "successifs" and "succession" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "successifs vs successions". 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 #399,304 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