cœurvsceuxWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: cœur is a noun, ceux is a pronoun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“cœur” is a noun and “ceux” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#552
“cœur” frequency rank
#175
“ceux” frequency rank
727
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature cœur ceux
Definition Organe musculaire, creux et pulsatile assurant la circulation sanguine dans le corps humain ou animal. Masculin pluriel de celui.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set cœur and ceux apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
cœur
4 ch
ceux

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: cœur is \kœʁ\ while ceux is \sø\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 727, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

cœur is recorded at frequency rank #552, classified as anoun, pronounced \kœʁ\. ceux is at rank #175, tagged as apron, pronounced \sø\.

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 727, this pair ranks #439,213 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of cœur vs ceux

Shared letters: cu. Private to "cœur": . Private to "ceux": ex.

"cœur" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "ceux" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ceuxcceux · ceuxx · cexu · cuex · ecux

Frequency comparison

cœur#552
ceux#175

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "cœur" and "ceux" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "cœur" is a noun and "ceux" a pronoun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "cœur" or "ceux"?
"ceux" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #175 in our French list, against #552 for "cœur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering cœur vs ceux

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “cœur”; for a pronoun, it's “ceux”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “cœur” 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 FrequencyWords open word-frequency list