supérieurevssupérieursWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: supérieure is a noun, supérieurs is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#1,788
“supérieure” frequency rank
#4,995
“supérieurs” frequency rank
6783
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature supérieure supérieurs
Definition Celle qui est située au-dessus. Masculin pluriel de supérieur.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set supérieure and supérieurs apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

10 ch
supérieure
10 ch
supérieurs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: supérieure and supérieurs carry the same recorded pronunciation, \sy.pe.ʁjœʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by a single letter - e in “supérieure” becomes s in “supérieurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6783, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

supérieure is recorded at frequency rank #1,788, classified as anoun, pronounced \sy.pe.ʁjœʁ\. supérieurs is at rank #4,995, tagged as anadj, pronounced \sy.pe.ʁjœʁ\.

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 6783, this pair ranks #425,243 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of supérieure vs supérieurs

Shared letters: eiprsué. Private to "supérieure": -. Private to "supérieurs": -.

"supérieure" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVVCV  ·  "supérieurs" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCVVVCC

Frequency comparison

supérieure#1,788
supérieurs#4,995

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "supérieure" and "supérieurs" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "supérieure" is a noun and "supérieurs" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "supérieure" or "supérieurs"?
"supérieure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,788 in our French list, against #4,995 for "supérieurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering supérieure vs supérieurs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “supérieure”; for an adjective, it's “supérieurs”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “supérieure” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list