beauxvsbeurTell them apart

Quick tell: beaux is a adjective, beur is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“beaux” is an adjective and “beur” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,247
“beaux” frequency rank
#36,722
“beur” frequency rank
37969
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature beaux beur
Definition Masculin pluriel de beau. Personne d’origine maghrébine.

Where the eye mixes beaux and beur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

5 ch
beaux
4 ch
beur

Look-alike desk: beaux vs beur

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: beaux is \bo\ while beur is \bœʁ\. 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 noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 37969, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

beaux is recorded at frequency rank #1,247, classified as anadj, pronounced \bo\. beur is at rank #36,722, tagged as anoun, pronounced \bœʁ\.

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 37969, this pair ranks #258,662 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of beaux vs beur

Shared letters: beu. Private to "beaux": ax. Private to "beur": r.

"beaux" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC  ·  "beur" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • beauxbaeux · bbeaux · beauxx · beaxu · beuax · ebaux
  • beurbbeur · beru · beurr · ebur

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "beaux" and "beur" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "beaux" is an adjective and "beur" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "beaux" vs "beur" - which ranks higher?
"beaux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,247 in our French list, against #36,722 for "beur". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "beaux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "beur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #258,662 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "beaux" and "beur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "beur vs bury". 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 #258,662 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list