Which to use
“compteur” and “compteurs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,801
- “compteur” frequency rank
- #15,595
- “compteurs” frequency rank
- 23396
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | compteur | compteurs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui compte. | Pluriel de compteur. |
Same sound, different letters: compteur vs compteurs
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. compteur runs 8 letters (CVCCCVVC) against compteurs's 9 (CVCCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: compteur vs compteurs
This is the hard kind. compteur and compteurs are pronounced identically (\kɔ̃.tœʁ\) 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) - “compteur” sits inside “compteurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 23396, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
compteur is recorded at frequency rank #7,801, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tœʁ\. compteurs is at rank #15,595, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɔ̃.tœʁ\.
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 23396, this pair ranks #352,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of compteur vs compteurs
Shared letters: cemoprtu. Private to "compteur": -. Private to "compteurs": s.
"compteur" · 8 letters · shape CVCCCVVC · "compteurs" · 9 letters · shape CVCCCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "compteur" for "compteurs" ever safe?
Frequency check: "compteur" vs "compteurs" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
"compteur" and "compteurs" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "compteur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "compteurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #352,741 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "compteur" and "compteurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "comptées vs compteurs". 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 #352,741 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.