Which to use
“autre” is an adjective and “autrui” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #96
- “autre” frequency rank
- #6,052
- “autrui” frequency rank
- 6148
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | autre | autrui |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Du même type mais dont l’identité est différente de ce dont on vient de parler. | Les autres personnes, une autre personne, le prochain. |
Where the eye mixes autre and autrui
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. autre runs 5 letters (VVCCV) against autrui's 6 (VVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses autre with autrui
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: autre is \otʁ\ while autrui is \o.tʁɥi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 6148, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
autre is recorded at frequency rank #96, classified as anadj, pronounced \otʁ\. autrui is at rank #6,052, tagged as apron, pronounced \o.tʁɥi\.
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 6148, this pair ranks #427,050 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of autre vs autrui
Shared letters: artu. Private to "autre": e. Private to "autrui": i.
"autre" · 5 letters · shape VVCCV · "autrui" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "autre" and "autrui" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "autre" or "autrui"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "autre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "autrui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #427,050 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "autre" and "autrui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "aur vs autre". 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 #427,050 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.