JosefvsJosseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#31,101
“Josef” frequency rank
#31,102
“Josse” frequency rank
62203
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature Josef Josse
Definition Prénom masculin. Commune française, située dans le département des Landes.

Letter map: Josef vs Josse

Shared letters muted; letters that set Josef and Josse apart highlighted. Shared run: 4.

5 ch
Josef
5 ch
Josse

Spelling & dictionary notes on Josef vs Josse

Josef and Josse are indexed as a confusable French pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62203, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

Josef is recorded at frequency rank #31,101, classified as aname. Josse is at rank #31,102, tagged as aname, pronounced \ʒɔs\.

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 62203, this pair ranks #88,326 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of Josef vs Josse

Shared letters: ejos. Private to "Josef": f. Private to "Josse": -.

"Josef" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC  ·  "Josse" · 5 letters · shape CVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • Josefjjosef · joesf · joseff · josfe · jossef · jsoef · ojsef
  • Jossejjosse · joses · jsose · ojsse

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "Josef" for "Josse" ever safe?
No. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Frequency check: "Josef" vs "Josse" - which ranks higher?
"Josef" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,101 in our French list, against #31,102 for "Josse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pair "Josef" vs "Josse" is on the table, pick a follow-up below.

  • Full dictionary entry for "Josef" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Josse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #88,326 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "Josef" and "Josse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Josie vs Josse". 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 #88,326 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