destructeurvsdestructeursWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: destructeur is a noun, destructeurs is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“destructeur” is a noun and “destructeurs” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#18,167
“destructeur” frequency rank
#32,369
“destructeurs” frequency rank
50536
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature destructeur destructeurs
Definition Personne qui détruit. Masculin pluriel de destructeur.

Same sound, different letters: destructeur vs destructeurs

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 11 letters. destructeur runs 11 letters (CVCCCVCCVVC) against destructeurs's 12 (CVCCCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
destructeur
12 ch
destructeurs

Same sound, different spelling - destructeur / destructeurs

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: destructeur and destructeurs carry the same recorded pronunciation, \dɛs.tʁyk.tœʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “destructeur” sits inside “destructeurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50536, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

destructeur is recorded at frequency rank #18,167, classified as anoun, pronounced \dɛs.tʁyk.tœʁ\. destructeurs is at rank #32,369, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dɛs.tʁyk.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 50536, this pair ranks #161,895 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of destructeur vs destructeurs

Shared letters: cderstu. Private to "destructeur": -. Private to "destructeurs": -.

"destructeur" · 11 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVVC  ·  "destructeurs" · 12 letters · shape CVCCCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • destructeur ← ddestructeur · desrtucteur · desstructeur · destrcuteur · destrructeur · destruccteur · destrucetur · destructeru
  • destructeurs ← ddestructeurs · desrtucteurs · desstructeurs · destrcuteurs · destrructeurs · destruccteurs · destruceturs · destructerus

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "destructeur" for "destructeurs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "destructeur" is a noun and "destructeurs" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "destructeur" or "destructeurs"?
"destructeur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,167 in our French list, against #32,369 for "destructeurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

You've separated the homophone pair "destructeur" / "destructeurs". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.

  • Full dictionary entry for "destructeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "destructeurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #161,895 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "destructeur" and "destructeurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "destructeurs vs détracteurs". 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 #161,895 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