coiffeurvscoiffeursConfusable pair

Which to use

“coiffeur” and “coiffeurs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#11,370
“coiffeur” frequency rank
#28,885
“coiffeurs” frequency rank
40255
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coiffeur coiffeurs
Definition Personne dont le métier est de couper et coiffer les cheveux, et éventuellement la barbe. Pluriel de coiffeur.

Same sound, different letters: coiffeur vs coiffeurs

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. coiffeur runs 8 letters (CVVCCVVC) against coiffeurs's 9 (CVVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
coiffeur
9 ch
coiffeurs

Ear matches; page differs - coiffeur and coiffeurs

This is the hard kind. coiffeur and coiffeurs are pronounced identically (\kwa.fœʁ\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “coiffeur” sits inside “coiffeurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40255, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

coiffeur is recorded at frequency rank #11,370, classified as anoun, pronounced \kwa.fœʁ\. coiffeurs is at rank #28,885, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kwa.fœʁ\.

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 40255, this pair ranks #241,852 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of coiffeur vs coiffeurs

Shared letters: cefioru. Private to "coiffeur": -. Private to "coiffeurs": s.

"coiffeur" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC  ·  "coiffeurs" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coiffeur ← ccoiffeur · cioffeur · cofifeur · coifefur · coifeur · coifferu · coiffeurr · ociffeur
  • coiffeurs ← ccoiffeurs · cioffeurs · cofifeurs · coifefurs · coifeurs · coifferus · coiffeurrs · coiffeurss

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "coiffeur" and "coiffeurs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\kwa.fœʁ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "coiffeur" or "coiffeurs"?
"coiffeur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,370 in our French list, against #28,885 for "coiffeurs". 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 "coiffeur" / "coiffeurs". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "coiffeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coiffeurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #241,852 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coiffeur" and "coiffeurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coiffeurs vs coiffures". 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 #241,852 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