Which to use
“topic” and “topics” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #18,609
- “topic” frequency rank
- #40,536
- “topics” frequency rank
- 59145
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | topic | topics |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fil de discussion sur un forum internet ; suite de messages consécutifs autour d'un sujet donné regroupés grâce à une interface qui en facilite la lecture. | Pluriel de topic. |
Same sound, different letters: topic vs topics
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters.
Same sound, different spelling - topic / topics
This is the hard kind. topic and topics are pronounced identically (\tɔ.pik\) 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) - “topic” sits inside “topics”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59145, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
topic is recorded at frequency rank #18,609, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɔ.pik\. topics is at rank #40,536, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɔ.pik\.
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 59145, this pair ranks #104,807 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of topic vs topics
Shared letters: ciopt. Private to "topic": -. Private to "topics": s.
"topic" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "topics" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "topic" for "topics" ever safe?
Frequency check: "topic" vs "topics" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
"topic" and "topics" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "topic" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "topics" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #104,807 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "topic" and "topics" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "topics vs tories". 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 #104,807 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.