inspecteurvsinspecteursWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: inspecteur is a adjective, inspecteurs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“inspecteur” is an adjective and “inspecteurs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,339
“inspecteur” frequency rank
#10,019
“inspecteurs” frequency rank
14358
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature inspecteur inspecteurs
Definition Qui a une fonction d'inspecteur au sein de son domaine d'activité ou d'expertise. Pluriel de inspecteur.

Same sound, different letters: inspecteur vs inspecteurs

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 10 letters.

10 ch
inspecteur
11 ch
inspecteurs

Ear matches; page differs - inspecteur and inspecteurs

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: inspecteur and inspecteurs carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɛ̃s.pɛk.tœʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other anoun, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “inspecteur” sits inside “inspecteurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14358, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

inspecteur is recorded at frequency rank #4,339, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃s.pɛk.tœʁ\. inspecteurs is at rank #10,019, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃s.pɛk.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 14358, this pair ranks #397,035 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of inspecteur vs inspecteurs

Shared letters: ceinprstu. Private to "inspecteur": -. Private to "inspecteurs": -.

"inspecteur" · 10 letters · shape VCCCVCCVVC  ·  "inspecteurs" · 11 letters · shape VCCCVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • inspecteurinnspecteur · inpsecteur · insepcteur · inspceteur · inspeccteur · inspecetur · inspecteru · inspecteurr
  • inspecteursinnspecteurs · inpsecteurs · insepcteurs · inspceteurs · inspeccteurs · inspeceturs · inspecterus · inspecteurrs

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "inspecteur" and "inspecteurs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "inspecteur" is an adjective and "inspecteurs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "inspecteur" or "inspecteurs"?
"inspecteur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,339 in our French list, against #10,019 for "inspecteurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

"inspecteur" and "inspecteurs" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "inspecteur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "inspecteurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #397,035 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "inspecteur" and "inspecteurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "inspecter vs inspecteurs". 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 #397,035 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list