Which to use
“illustrateur” and “illustrateurs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,475
- “illustrateur” frequency rank
- #41,338
- “illustrateurs” frequency rank
- 68813
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | illustrateur | illustrateurs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui illustre, qui dessine, qui compose des illustrations pour les livres, les journaux, les revues. | Pluriel de illustrateur. |
Same sound, different letters: illustrateur vs illustrateurs
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 12 letters. illustrateur runs 12 letters (VCCVCCCVCVVC) against illustrateurs's 13 (VCCVCCCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Homophone desk: illustrateur vs illustrateurs
This is the hard kind. illustrateur and illustrateurs are pronounced identically (\i.lys.tʁa.tœʁ\) 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) - “illustrateur” sits inside “illustrateurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68813, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
illustrateur is recorded at frequency rank #27,475, classified as anoun, pronounced \i.lys.tʁa.tœʁ\. illustrateurs is at rank #41,338, tagged as anoun, pronounced \i.lys.tʁa.tœʁ\.
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 68813, this pair ranks #57,584 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of illustrateur vs illustrateurs
Shared letters: aeilrstu. Private to "illustrateur": -. Private to "illustrateurs": -.
"illustrateur" · 12 letters · shape VCCVCCCVCVVC · "illustrateurs" · 13 letters · shape VCCVCCCVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- illustrateur ← illsutrateur · illusrtateur · illusstrateur · illustarteur · illustraetur · illustrateru · illustrateurr · illustratteur
- illustrateurs ← illsutrateurs · illusrtateurs · illusstrateurs · illustarteurs · illustraeturs · illustraterus · illustrateurrs · illustrateurss
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "illustrateur" for "illustrateurs" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "illustrateur" or "illustrateurs" show up more?
After this comparison
"illustrateur" and "illustrateurs" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "illustrateur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "illustrateurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #57,584 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- 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 #57,584 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.