débitervsdébiteursTell them apart

Quick tell: débiter is a verb, débiteurs is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“débiter” is a verb and “débiteurs” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#36,810
“débiter” frequency rank
#38,253
“débiteurs” frequency rank
75063
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature débiter débiteurs
Definition Vendre d’une façon continue, répétée, surtout au détail. Masculin pluriel de débiteur.

Where the eye mixes débiter and débiteurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. débiter runs 7 letters (CVCVCVC) against débiteurs's 9 (CVCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
débiter
9 ch
débiteurs

Visual trap between débiter and débiteurs

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: débiter is \de.bi.te\ while débiteurs is \de.bi.tœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75063, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

débiter is recorded at frequency rank #36,810, classified as averb, pronounced \de.bi.te\. débiteurs is at rank #38,253, tagged as anadj, pronounced \de.bi.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 75063, this pair ranks #35,234 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of débiter vs débiteurs

Shared letters: bdeirté. Private to "débiter": -. Private to "débiteurs": su.

"débiter" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCVC  ·  "débiteurs" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "débiter" and "débiteurs" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "débiter" is a verb and "débiteurs" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "débiter" vs "débiteurs" - which ranks higher?
"débiter" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #36,810 in our French list, against #38,253 for "débiteurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "débiter" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "débiteurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #35,234 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "débiter" and "débiteurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "débiter vs désister". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #35,234 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