Which to use
“jeu” is a noun and “jeune” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #267
- “jeu” frequency rank
- #338
- “jeune” frequency rank
- 605
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | jeu | jeune |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Divertissement, activité avec des règles, pouvant être exercé seul, ou en groupe, pour s’amuser. | Qui est dans une phase au commencement de sa vie ou de son développement ; qui n’est guère avancé en âge, en parlant des humains, des animaux ou des végétaux. |
Where the eye mixes jeu and jeune
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses jeu with jeune
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: jeu is \ʒø\ while jeune is \ʒœn\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “jeu” sits inside “jeune”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 605, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
jeu is recorded at frequency rank #267, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʒø\. jeune is at rank #338, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʒœn\.
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 605, this pair ranks #439,400 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of jeu vs jeune
Shared letters: eju. Private to "jeu": -. Private to "jeune": n.
"jeu" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "jeune" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- jeune ← ejune · jenue · jeuen · jeunne · jjeune · juene
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "jeu" and "jeune" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "jeu" or "jeune" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "jeu" and "jeune" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "jeu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "jeune" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,400 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "jeu" and "jeune" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jeu vs jor". 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 #439,400 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.