SymphonievssymphoniesWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“Symphonie” and “symphonies” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#15,770
“Symphonie” frequency rank
#40,038
“symphonies” frequency rank
55808
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Symphonie symphonies
Definition Symphonie. Pluriel de symphonie.

Where the eye mixes Symphonie and symphonies

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 9 letters in sequence. Symphonie runs 9 letters (CVCCCVCVV) against symphonies's 10 (CVCCCVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
Symphonie
10 ch
symphonies

Look-alike desk: Symphonie vs symphonies

A purely visual mix-up. Symphonie (\zʏm.fo.ˈniː\) and symphonies (\sɛ̃.fɔ.ni\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “Symphonie” sits inside “symphonies”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55808, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Symphonie is recorded at frequency rank #15,770, classified as anoun, pronounced \zʏm.fo.ˈniː\. symphonies is at rank #40,038, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sɛ̃.fɔ.ni\.

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 55808, this pair ranks #125,099 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of Symphonie vs symphonies

Shared letters: ehimnopsy. Private to "Symphonie": -. Private to "symphonies": -.

"Symphonie" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVCVV  ·  "symphonies" · 10 letters · shape CVCCCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Symphoniesmyphonie · ssymphonie · symhponie · symmphonie · symphhonie · symphnoie · symphoine · symphonei
  • symphoniessmyphonies · ssymphonies · symhponies · symmphonies · symphhonies · symphnoies · symphoines · symphoneis

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Symphonie" for "symphonies" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\zʏm.fo.ˈniː\ versus \sɛ̃.fɔ.ni\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "Symphonie" or "symphonies"?
"Symphonie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,770 in our French list, against #40,038 for "symphonies". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "Symphonie" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "symphonies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #125,099 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Symphonie" and "symphonies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "symphonies vs Symphorien". 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 #125,099 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