enterrervsentourerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#11,962
“enterrer” frequency rank
#16,353
“entourer” frequency rank
28315
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enterrer entourer
Definition Enfouir ; mettre dans la terre. Mettre ou disposer autour ; être ou se tenir autour de.

Where the eye mixes enterrer and entourer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. enterrer (VCCVCCVC) and entourer (VCCVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

8 ch
enterrer
8 ch
entourer

Look-alike desk: enterrer vs entourer

A purely visual mix-up. enterrer (\ɑ̃.te.ʁe\) and entourer (\ɑ̃.tu.ʁe\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28315, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enterrer is recorded at frequency rank #11,962, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.te.ʁe\. 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 28315, this pair ranks #323,603 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enterrer vs entourer

Shared letters: enrt. Private to "enterrer": -. Private to "entourer": ou.

"enterrer" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "entourer" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enterrerenetrrer · ennterrer · enterer · entererr · enterrerr · enterrre · entrerer · entterrer
  • entourerenntourer · enoturer · entoruer · entouerr · entourerr · entourre · entourrer · enttourer

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "enterrer" and "entourer" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.te.ʁe\ versus \ɑ̃.tu.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "enterrer" or "entourer"?
"enterrer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,962 in our French list, against #16,353 for "entourer". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "enterrer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "entourer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,603 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enterrer" and "entourer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "encourir vs entourer". 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 #323,603 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