enquêteurvsenquêteursWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: enquêteur is a adjective, enquêteurs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#17,417
“enquêteur” frequency rank
#10,497
“enquêteurs” frequency rank
27914
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enquêteur enquêteurs
Definition Qui enquête Pluriel de enquêteur.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set enquêteur and enquêteurs apart are highlighted. They share 9 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

9 ch
enquêteur
10 ch
enquêteurs

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: enquêteur and enquêteurs carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɑ̃.kɛ.tœʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “enquêteur” sits inside “enquêteurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27914, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enquêteur is recorded at frequency rank #17,417, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.kɛ.tœʁ\. 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 27914, this pair ranks #325,985 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enquêteur vs enquêteurs

Shared letters: enqrtuê. Private to "enquêteur": -. Private to "enquêteurs": s.

"enquêteur" · 9 letters · shape VCCVVCVVC  ·  "enquêteurs" · 10 letters · shape VCCVVCVVCC

Frequency comparison

enquêteur#17,417
enquêteurs#10,497

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enquêteur" and "enquêteurs" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enquêteur" is an adjective and "enquêteurs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "enquêteur" or "enquêteurs"?
"enquêteurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,497 in our French list, against #17,417 for "enquêteur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering enquêteur vs enquêteurs

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “enquêteur”; for a noun, it's “enquêteurs”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “enquêteur” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list