Which to use
“alentour” is an adverb and “alentours” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,863
- “alentour” frequency rank
- #5,420
- “alentours” frequency rank
- 23283
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | alentour | alentours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Aux environs. | Lieux circonvoisins. |
Same sound, different letters: alentour vs alentours
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. alentour runs 8 letters (VCVCCVVC) against alentours's 9 (VCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - alentour and alentours
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: alentour and alentours carry the same recorded pronunciation, \a.lɑ̃.tuʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadverb, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “alentour” sits inside “alentours”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23283, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
alentour is recorded at frequency rank #17,863, classified as anadv, pronounced \a.lɑ̃.tuʁ\. alentours is at rank #5,420, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.lɑ̃.tuʁ\.
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 23283, this pair ranks #353,381 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of alentour vs alentours
Shared letters: aelnortu. Private to "alentour": -. Private to "alentours": s.
"alentour" · 8 letters · shape VCVCCVVC · "alentours" · 9 letters · shape VCVCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "alentour" and "alentours" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "alentour" or "alentours" show up more?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "alentour" / "alentours". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "alentour" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "alentours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #353,381 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 #353,381 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.