douaniervsdouanièresWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#27,409
“douanier” frequency rank
#29,316
“douanières” frequency rank
56725
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature douanier douanières
Definition Qui se rapporte aux douanes. Féminin pluriel de douanier.

Where the eye mixes douanier and douanières

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

8 ch
douanier
10 ch
douanières

Look-alike desk: douanier vs douanières

A purely visual mix-up. douanier (\dwa.nje\) and douanières (\dwa.njɛʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 56725, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

douanier is recorded at frequency rank #27,409, classified as anadj, pronounced \dwa.nje\. douanières is at rank #29,316, tagged as anadj, pronounced \dwa.njɛʁ\.

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 56725, this pair ranks #119,296 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of douanier vs douanières

Shared letters: adeinoru. Private to "douanier": -. Private to "douanières": .

"douanier" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCVVC  ·  "douanières" · 10 letters · shape CVVVCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • douanierddouanier · doaunier · douainer · douaneir · douanierr · douanire · douannier · dounaier

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "douanier" for "douanières" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\dwa.nje\ versus \dwa.njɛʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "douanier" or "douanières"?
"douanier" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,409 in our French list, against #29,316 for "douanières". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "douanier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "douanières" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #119,296 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "douanier" and "douanières" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "douanière vs douanières". 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 #119,296 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