coiffeurvscoiffureWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,370
“coiffeur” frequency rank
#7,668
“coiffure” frequency rank
19038
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature coiffeur coiffure
Definition Personne dont le métier est de couper et coiffer les cheveux, et éventuellement la barbe. Manière dont on arrange les cheveux selon le pays et la mode.

Where the eye mixes coiffeur and coiffure

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

8 ch
coiffeur
8 ch
coiffure

Look-alike desk: coiffeur vs coiffure

A purely visual mix-up. coiffeur (\kwa.fœʁ\) and coiffure (\kwa.fyʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they are an anagram pair: the same letters reordered. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19038, 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\. coiffure is at rank #7,668, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kwa.fyʁ\.

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 19038, this pair ranks #375,340 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of coiffeur vs coiffure

Shared letters: cefioru. Private to "coiffeur": -. Private to "coiffure": -.

"coiffeur" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC  ·  "coiffure" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • coiffeurccoiffeur · cioffeur · cofifeur · coifefur · coifeur · coifferu · coiffeurr · ociffeur
  • coiffureccoiffure · cioffure · cofifure · coiffrue · coiffuer · coiffurre · coifufre · coifure

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "coiffeur" for "coiffure" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\kwa.fœʁ\ versus \kwa.fyʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "coiffeur" or "coiffure"?
"coiffure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,668 in our French list, against #11,370 for "coiffeur". 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 "coiffeur" and "coiffure" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "coiffeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "coiffure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #375,340 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "coiffeur" and "coiffure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coiffeur vs coiffeurs". 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 #375,340 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