heurevsheurtWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#346
“heure” frequency rank
#48,578
“heurt” frequency rank
48924
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature heure heurt
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. Coup donné en heurtant contre quelque chose.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set heure and heurt apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
heure
5 ch
heurt

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. heure (^((h muet))\œʁ\) and heurt (^((h aspiré))\œʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by a single letter - e in “heure” becomes t in “heurt”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48924, 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\. heurt is at rank #48,578, tagged as anoun, pronounced ^((h aspiré))\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 48924, this pair ranks #174,965 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of heure vs heurt

Shared letters: ehru. Private to "heure": -. Private to "heurt": t.

"heure" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "heurt" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • heureehure · herue · heuer · heurre · hheure · huere
  • heurtehurt · herut · heurrt · heurtt · heutr · hheurt · huert

Frequency comparison

heure#346
heurt#48,578

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "heure" and "heurt" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (^((h muet))\œʁ\ versus ^((h aspiré))\œʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "heure" or "heurt"?
"heure" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #346 in our French list, against #48,578 for "heurt". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering heure vs heurt

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “heure” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list