instaurevsinstaurerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#21,666
“instaure” frequency rank
#11,234
“instaurer” frequency rank
32900
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature instaure instaurer
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de instaurer. Établir, fonder.

Where the eye mixes instaure and instaurer

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
instaure
9 ch
instaurer

Visual trap between instaure and instaurer

A purely visual mix-up. instaure (\ɛ̃s.tɔʁ\) and instaurer (\ɛ̃s.tɔ.ʁe\) 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 1 extra letter(s) - “instaure” sits inside “instaurer”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 32900, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

instaure is recorded at frequency rank #21,666, classified as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃s.tɔʁ\. instaurer is at rank #11,234, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɛ̃s.tɔ.ʁe\.

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 32900, this pair ranks #294,206 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of instaure vs instaurer

Shared letters: aeinrstu. Private to "instaure": -. Private to "instaurer": -.

"instaure" · 8 letters · shape VCCCVVCV  ·  "instaurer" · 9 letters · shape VCCCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • instaureinnstaure · insature · insstaure · instarue · instauer · insttaure · instuare · intsaure
  • instaurerinnstaurer · insaturer · insstaurer · instaruer · instauerr · instaurerr · instaurre · instaurrer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "instaure" and "instaurer" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɛ̃s.tɔʁ\ versus \ɛ̃s.tɔ.ʁe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "instaure" or "instaurer"?
"instaurer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #11,234 in our French list, against #21,666 for "instaure". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "instaure" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "instaurer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #294,206 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "instaure" and "instaurer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "instaure vs instaurée". 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 #294,206 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