témoinvstémoinsConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#2,972
“témoin” frequency rank
#2,973
“témoins” frequency rank
5945
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature témoin témoins
Definition Personne qui certifie ou qui peut certifier une chose qu’elle a vue ou entendue. Pluriel de témoin.

Same sound, different letters: témoin vs témoins

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. témoin runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against témoins's 7 (CVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
témoin
7 ch
témoins

Same sound, different spelling - témoin / témoins

This is the hard kind. témoin and témoins are pronounced identically (\te.mwɛ̃\) 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) - “témoin” sits inside “témoins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 5945, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

témoin is recorded at frequency rank #2,972, classified as anoun, pronounced \te.mwɛ̃\. témoins is at rank #2,973, tagged as anoun, pronounced \te.mwɛ̃\.

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 5945, this pair ranks #427,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of témoin vs témoins

Shared letters: imnoté. Private to "témoin": -. Private to "témoins": s.

"témoin" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC  ·  "témoins" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "témoin" and "témoins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\te.mwɛ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "témoin" or "témoins"?
"témoin" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,972 in our French list, against #2,973 for "témoins". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"témoin" and "témoins" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "témoin" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "témoins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #427,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "témoin" and "témoins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "témoin vs timon". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #427,613 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