causervscauseurWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: causer is a verb, causeur is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“causer” is a verb and “causeur” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#6,377
“causer” frequency rank
#42,221
“causeur” frequency rank
48598
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature causer causeur
Definition Être cause de ; occasionner, provoquer. Qui aime à causer.

Where the eye mixes causer and causeur

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

6 ch
causer
7 ch
causeur

Visual trap between causer and causeur

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: causer is \ko.ze\ while causeur is \ko.zœʁ\. 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 (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48598, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

causer is recorded at frequency rank #6,377, classified as averb, pronounced \ko.ze\. causeur is at rank #42,221, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ko.zœʁ\.

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 48598, this pair ranks #177,620 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of causer vs causeur

Shared letters: acersu. Private to "causer": -. Private to "causeur": -.

"causer" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "causeur" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • causeracuser · casuer · cauesr · causerr · causre · causser · ccauser · cuaser
  • causeuracuseur · casueur · cauesur · causeru · causeurr · causseur · causuer · ccauseur

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "causer" for "causeur" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "causer" is a verb and "causeur" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "causer" or "causeur"?
"causer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,377 in our French list, against #42,221 for "causeur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "causer" and "causeur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "causer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "causeur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #177,620 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "causer" and "causeur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "casseur vs causeur". 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 #177,620 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