terminaisonvsterminaisonsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,001
“terminaison” frequency rank
#39,067
“terminaisons” frequency rank
69068
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature terminaison terminaisons
Definition Fin d’une chose ; état de ce qui se termine, de ce qui cesse. Pluriel de terminaison.

Same sound, different letters: terminaison vs terminaisons

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 11 letters. terminaison runs 11 letters (CVCCVCVVCVC) against terminaisons's 12 (CVCCVCVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
terminaison
12 ch
terminaisons

Ear matches; page differs - terminaison and terminaisons

This is the hard kind. terminaison and terminaisons are pronounced identically (\tɛʁ.mi.nɛ.zɔ̃\) 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) - “terminaison” sits inside “terminaisons”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 69068, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

terminaison is recorded at frequency rank #30,001, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɛʁ.mi.nɛ.zɔ̃\. terminaisons is at rank #39,067, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɛʁ.mi.nɛ.zɔ̃\.

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 69068, this pair ranks #56,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of terminaison vs terminaisons

Shared letters: aeimnorst. Private to "terminaison": -. Private to "terminaisons": -.

"terminaison" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCVC  ·  "terminaisons" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVVCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • terminaison ← etrminaison · temrinaison · terimnaison · termianison · terminaiosn · terminaisno · terminaisonn · terminaisson
  • terminaisons ← etrminaisons · temrinaisons · terimnaisons · termianisons · terminaiosns · terminaisnos · terminaisonns · terminaisonss

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "terminaison" and "terminaisons" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\tɛʁ.mi.nɛ.zɔ̃\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "terminaison" vs "terminaisons" - which ranks higher?
"terminaison" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #30,001 in our French list, against #39,067 for "terminaisons". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "terminaison" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "terminaisons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #56,602 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • 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 #56,602 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