chœursvscoeursWhich spelling fits?

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

Which to use

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

#24,903
“chœurs” frequency rank
#10,662
“coeurs” frequency rank
35565
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature chœurs coeurs
Definition Pluriel de chœur. Pluriel de coeur.

Same sound, different letters: chœurs vs coeurs

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 4 letters. chœurs (CCVVCC) and coeurs (CVVVCC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
chœurs
6 ch
coeurs

Ear matches; page differs - chœurs and coeurs

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: chœurs 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 share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35565, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

chœurs is recorded at frequency rank #24,903, 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 35565, this pair ranks #275,795 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of chœurs vs coeurs

Shared letters: crsu. Private to "chœurs": hœ. Private to "coeurs": eo.

"chœurs" · 6 letters · shape CCVVCC  ·  "coeurs" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "chœurs" for "coeurs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "chœurs" is a noun and "coeurs" a typographic variant, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "chœurs" vs "coeurs" - which ranks higher?
"coeurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,662 in our French list, against #24,903 for "chœurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

"chœurs" and "coeurs" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "chœurs" 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 #275,795 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "chœurs" and "coeurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "chœurs vs chairs". 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 #275,795 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