enquêtesvsenquêteursWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#4,937
“enquêtes” frequency rank
#10,497
“enquêteurs” frequency rank
15434
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enquêtes enquêteurs
Definition Pluriel de enquête. Pluriel de enquêteur.

Where the eye mixes enquêtes and enquêteurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence. enquêtes runs 8 letters (VCCVVCVC) against enquêteurs's 10 (VCCVVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
enquêtes
10 ch
enquêteurs

Why the eye confuses enquêtes with enquêteurs

A purely visual mix-up. enquêtes (\ɑ̃.kɛt\) and enquêteurs (\ɑ̃.kɛ.tœʁ\) 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 15434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enquêtes is recorded at frequency rank #4,937, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.kɛt\. enquêteurs is at rank #10,497, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.kɛ.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 15434, this pair ranks #392,382 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of enquêtes vs enquêteurs

Shared letters: enqstuê. Private to "enquêtes": -. Private to "enquêteurs": r.

"enquêtes" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC  ·  "enquêteurs" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enquêtes" and "enquêteurs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.kɛt\ versus \ɑ̃.kɛ.tœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "enquêtes" or "enquêteurs"?
"enquêtes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,937 in our French list, against #10,497 for "enquêteurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "enquêtes" and "enquêteurs" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "enquêtes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enquêteurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #392,382 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enquêtes" and "enquêteurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enquêtent vs enquêtes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #392,382 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