intérieurvsintérieureWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#615
“intérieur” frequency rank
#3,689
“intérieure” frequency rank
4304
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature intérieur intérieure
Definition Qui est au dedans ; qui est relatif au dedans. Joueuse de basket-ball au rôle principalement défensif.

Same sound, different letters: intérieur vs intérieure

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. intérieur runs 9 letters (VCCVCVVVC) against intérieure's 10 (VCCVCVVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
intérieur
10 ch
intérieure

Same sound, different spelling - intérieur / intérieure

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: intérieur and intérieure carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ɛ̃.tɛ.ʁjœʁ\. 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) - “intérieur” sits inside “intérieure”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 4304, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

intérieur is recorded at frequency rank #615, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛ.ʁjœʁ\. intérieure is at rank #3,689, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛ̃.tɛ.ʁjœʁ\.

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 4304, this pair ranks #431,943 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of intérieur vs intérieure

Shared letters: einrtué. Private to "intérieur": -. Private to "intérieure": -.

"intérieur" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCVVVC  ·  "intérieure" · 10 letters · shape VCCVCVVVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "intérieur" and "intérieure" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "intérieur" is an adjective and "intérieure" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "intérieur" vs "intérieure" - which ranks higher?
"intérieur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #615 in our French list, against #3,689 for "intérieure". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "intérieur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "intérieure" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #431,943 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "intérieur" and "intérieure" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ingénieure vs intérieure". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #431,943 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