hackervshackersWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: hacker is a verb, hackers is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“hacker” is a verb and “hackers” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#15,399
“hacker” frequency rank
#21,035
“hackers” frequency rank
36434
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature hacker hackers
Definition (Générique) Modifier ou améliorer tout et n’importe quoi (logiciel et matériel, informatique ou non)… Pas par nécessité, mais par curiosité. Pluriel de hacker.

Where the eye mixes hacker and hackers

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. hacker runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against hackers's 7 (CVCCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
hacker
7 ch
hackers

Visual trap between hacker and hackers

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: hacker is ^((h aspiré))\a.ke\ while hackers is \a.kœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “hacker” sits inside “hackers”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36434, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

hacker is recorded at frequency rank #15,399, classified as averb, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\a.ke\. hackers is at rank #21,035, tagged as anoun, pronounced \a.kœʁ\.

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 36434, this pair ranks #269,641 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of hacker vs hackers

Shared letters: acehkr. Private to "hacker": -. Private to "hackers": s.

"hacker" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "hackers" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • hacker ← ahcker · haccker · hacekr · hackerr · hackker · hackre · hakcer · hcaker
  • hackers ← ahckers · hacckers · hacekrs · hackerrs · hackerss · hackesr · hackkers · hackres

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "hacker" and "hackers" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "hacker" is a verb and "hackers" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "hacker" vs "hackers" - which ranks higher?
"hacker" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,399 in our French list, against #21,035 for "hackers". 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 "hacker" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "hackers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #269,641 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "hacker" and "hackers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hackers vs haters". 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 #269,641 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