chœurvscoeursWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: chœur is a noun, coeurs is a typographic variant, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“chœur” is a noun and “coeurs” is a typographic variant - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#8,357
“chœur” frequency rank
#10,662
“coeurs” frequency rank
19019
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chœur coeurs
Definition Troupe de gens qui chantent ensemble. Pluriel de coeur.

Same sound, different letters: chœur vs coeurs

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. chœur runs 5 letters (CCVVC) against coeurs's 6 (CVVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

5 ch
chœur
6 ch
coeurs

Same sound, different spelling - chœur / coeurs

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: chœur and coeurs carry the same recorded pronunciation, \kœʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other atypographic variant, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19019, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chœur is recorded at frequency rank #8,357, classified as anoun, pronounced \kœʁ\. coeurs is at rank #10,662, tagged as atypographic variant, pronounced \kœʁ\.

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 19019, this pair ranks #375,429 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of chœur vs coeurs

Shared letters: cru. Private to "chœur": hœ. Private to "coeurs": eos.

"chœur" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC  ·  "coeurs" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coeurs ← ccoeurs · ceours · coerus · coeurrs · coeurss · coeusr · couers · oceurs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chœur" for "coeurs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chœur" is a noun and "coeurs" a typographic variant, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "chœur" or "coeurs"?
"chœur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #8,357 in our French list, against #10,662 for "coeurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

You've separated the homophone pair "chœur" / "coeurs". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chœur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coeurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #375,429 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chœur" and "coeurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coeurs vs courus". 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 #375,429 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