Which to use
“héritier” and “héritiers” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,096
- “héritier” frequency rank
- #9,851
- “héritiers” frequency rank
- 15947
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | héritier | héritiers |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui que la loi appelle à recueillir une succession. | Pluriel de héritier. |
Same sound, different letters: héritier vs héritiers
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. héritier runs 8 letters (CVCVCVVC) against héritiers's 9 (CVCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: héritier vs héritiers
This is the hard kind. héritier and héritiers are pronounced identically (\e.ʁi.tje\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “héritier” sits inside “héritiers”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 15947, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
héritier is recorded at frequency rank #6,096, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ʁi.tje\. héritiers is at rank #9,851, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.ʁi.tje\.
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 15947, this pair ranks #390,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of héritier vs héritiers
Shared letters: ehirté. Private to "héritier": -. Private to "héritiers": s.
"héritier" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC · "héritiers" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "héritier" and "héritiers" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "héritier" vs "héritiers" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "héritier" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "héritiers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #390,109 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "héritier" and "héritiers" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "herbiers vs héritiers". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #390,109 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.