Which to use
“auteur” and “autours” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #624
- “auteur” frequency rank
- #35,819
- “autours” frequency rank
- 36443
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | auteur | autours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Personne qui est à l’origine de quelque chose. | Pluriel de autour. |
Where the eye mixes auteur and autours
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. auteur runs 6 letters (VVCVVC) against autours's 7 (VVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses auteur with autours
A purely visual mix-up. auteur (\o.tœʁ\) and autours (\o.tuʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36443, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
auteur is recorded at frequency rank #624, classified as anoun, pronounced \o.tœʁ\. autours is at rank #35,819, tagged as anoun, pronounced \o.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 36443, this pair ranks #269,575 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of auteur vs autours
Shared letters: artu. Private to "auteur": e. Private to "autours": os.
"auteur" · 6 letters · shape VVCVVC · "autours" · 7 letters · shape VVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "auteur" and "autours" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "auteur" or "autours" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "auteur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "autours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #269,575 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "auteur" and "autours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "atours vs autours". 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 #269,575 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.