Which to use
“hêtre” and “heure” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #28,595
- “hêtre” frequency rank
- #346
- “heure” frequency rank
- 28941
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | hêtre | heure |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Arbre du genre Fagus de la famille des fagacées, à feuilles caduques ovales à nervation pennée et souvent dentées, de haute taille, à écorce lisse gris-clair pouvant fournir du tanin, en particulier le hêtre commun (Fagus sylvatica L. 1753). | Unité de mesure du temps, compatible avec le Système international, dérivée de la seconde, dont le symbole est h. 1 heure = 60 minutes = 3600 secondes. |
Where the eye mixes hêtre and heure
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses hêtre with heure
A purely visual mix-up. hêtre (^((h aspiré))\ɛtʁ\) and heure (^((h muet))\œʁ\) 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 28941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
hêtre is recorded at frequency rank #28,595, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\ɛtʁ\. heure is at rank #346, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\œʁ\.
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 28941, this pair ranks #319,700 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of hêtre vs heure
Shared letters: ehr. Private to "hêtre": tê. Private to "heure": u.
"hêtre" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV · "heure" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- heure ← ehure · herue · heuer · heurre · hheure · huere
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "hêtre" and "heure" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "hêtre" or "heure" show up more?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "hêtre" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "heure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #319,700 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "hêtre" and "heure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "hedge vs hêtre". 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 #319,700 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.