capteurvscaptureWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#14,623
“capteur” frequency rank
#6,793
“capture” frequency rank
21416
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature capteur capture
Definition Qui capte. Action de capturer ou résultat de cette action.

Where the eye mixes capteur and capture

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
capteur
7 ch
capture

Visual trap between capteur and capture

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: capteur is \kap.tœʁ\ while capture is \kap.tyʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21416, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

capteur is recorded at frequency rank #14,623, classified as anadj, pronounced \kap.tœʁ\. capture is at rank #6,793, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kap.tyʁ\.

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 21416, this pair ranks #363,269 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of capteur vs capture

Shared letters: aceprtu. Private to "capteur": -. Private to "capture": -.

"capteur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "capture" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • capteuracpteur · capetur · cappteur · capteru · capteurr · captteur · catpeur · ccapteur
  • captureacpture · cappture · captrue · captture · captuer · capturre · caputre · catpure

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "capteur" and "capture" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "capteur" is an adjective and "capture" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "capteur" or "capture" show up more?
"capture" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,793 in our French list, against #14,623 for "capteur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "capteur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "capture" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #363,269 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "capteur" and "capture" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "capteur vs casseur". 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 #363,269 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