Language/French/Grammar/Nouns-which-have-the-same-spoken-form-but-two-different-written-forms

Nouns which have the same spoken form but two different written forms, with different genders and different meanings

Nouns in French are either masculine or feminine. Unfortunately there are no simple rules which non-native speakers can use to predict with complete accuracy the gender of a given noun. However, there are some patterns, either in the form or meaning of nouns, which can normally be used to predict the correct gender with greater than chance accuracy. The reader should remember, however, that these patterns are not comprehensive, and that there are exceptions.

There are some words which, in spoken French, are pronounced in the same way but which have different meanings and different genders: