Which to use
“encourir” and “entourer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #49,062
- “encourir” frequency rank
- #16,353
- “entourer” frequency rank
- 65415
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | encourir | entourer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Attirer sur soi, faciliter la survenue, la réalisation, d'un châtiment, d'une peine venant d’une autorité supérieure, d'une pénalité, d'un jugement moral. Le sens de ce verbe contient une connotation de probabilité mais non de certitude : l'objet encouru n'est pas systématiquement réalisé (une peine encourue n'est pas systématiquement appliquée). | Mettre ou disposer autour ; être ou se tenir autour de. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set encourir and entourer apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
encourir and entourer form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 65415, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
encourir is recorded at frequency rank #49,062, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.ku.ʁiʁ\. entourer is at rank #16,353, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.tu.ʁe\.
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 65415, this pair ranks #72,438 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "encourir" and "entourer" be used interchangeably?
Remembering encourir vs entourer
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “encourir” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable