auteurevsautoursWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#9,272
“auteure” frequency rank
#35,819
“autours” frequency rank
45091
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature auteure autours
Definition Créatrice d’une œuvre littéraire. Pluriel de autour.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set auteure and autours apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
auteure
7 ch
autours

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. auteure (\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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45091, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

auteure is recorded at frequency rank #9,272, 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 45091, this pair ranks #205,471 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of auteure vs autours

Shared letters: artu. Private to "auteure": e. Private to "autours": os.

"auteure" · 7 letters · shape VVCVVCV  ·  "autours" · 7 letters · shape VVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • auteureatueure · aueture · auterue · auteuer · auteurre · autteure · autuere · uateure
  • autoursatuours · auoturs · autorus · autourrs · autourss · autousr · auttours · autuors

Frequency comparison

auteure#9,272
autours#35,819

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "auteure" and "autours" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\o.tœʁ\ versus \o.tuʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "auteure" or "autours"?
"auteure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #9,272 in our French list, against #35,819 for "autours". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering auteure vs autours

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “auteure” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list