Which to use
“heure” is a noun and “heureux” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #346
- “heure” frequency rank
- #877
- “heureux” frequency rank
- 1223
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | heure | heureux |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | 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. | Qui jouit du bonheur, qui possède ce qui peut le rendre content. |
Where the eye mixes heure and heureux
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: heure is ^((h muet))\œʁ\ while heureux is \œ.ʁø\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “heure” sits inside “heureux”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 1223, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
heure is recorded at frequency rank #346, classified as anoun, pronounced ^((h muet))\œʁ\. heureux is at rank #877, tagged as anadj, pronounced \œ.ʁø\.
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 1223, this pair ranks #438,412 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of heure vs heureux
Shared letters: ehru. Private to "heure": -. Private to "heureux": x.
"heure" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "heureux" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC