violationvsviolationsWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#6,572
“violation” frequency rank
#17,589
“violations” frequency rank
24161
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature violation violations
Definition Action de violer un engagement, de porter atteinte à un droit, d’enfreindre des règles, profanation d'une chose sacrée. L'utilisation de ce terme dans certains contextes est quelque peu sujette à discussion, en raison de son lien étymologique avec le terme latin "viola (pensée sauvage)", utilisé notamment pour nommer la violence. Un vol sans violence est une infraction, un délit, un crime, enfreint la loi, mais ne peut pas vraiment être associé au terme de violation pour cette raison. Pluriel de violation.

Same sound, different letters: violation vs violations

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters.

9 ch
violation
10 ch
violations

Homophone desk: violation vs violations

This is the hard kind. violation and violations are pronounced identically (\vjɔ.la.sjɔ̃\) 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) - “violation” sits inside “violations”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24161, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

violation is recorded at frequency rank #6,572, classified as anoun, pronounced \vjɔ.la.sjɔ̃\. violations is at rank #17,589, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vjɔ.la.sjɔ̃\.

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 24161, this pair ranks #348,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of violation vs violations

Shared letters: ailnotv. Private to "violation": -. Private to "violations": s.

"violation" · 9 letters · shape CVVCVCVVC  ·  "violations" · 10 letters · shape CVVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • violationivolation · viloation · vioaltion · violaiton · violatino · violationn · violatoin · violattion
  • violationsivolations · viloations · vioaltions · violaitons · violatinos · violationns · violationss · violatiosn

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "violation" for "violations" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\vjɔ.la.sjɔ̃\), 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, "violation" or "violations"?
"violation" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,572 in our French list, against #17,589 for "violations". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "violation" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "violations" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #348,224 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "violation" and "violations" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "violations vs vocations". 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 #348,224 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