Which to use
“jouir” is a verb and “jours” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #9,861
- “jouir” frequency rank
- #183
- “jours” frequency rank
- 10044
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | jouir | jours |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Profiter d’une chose que l’on a, que l’on possède, en goûter le plaisir, l’agrément, etc. | Pluriel de jour. |
Where the eye mixes jouir and jours
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between jouir and jours
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: jouir is \ʒwiʁ\ while jours is \ʒuʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 10044, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
jouir is recorded at frequency rank #9,861, classified as averb, pronounced \ʒwiʁ\. jours is at rank #183, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʒuʁ\.
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 10044, this pair ranks #414,416 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of jouir vs jours
Shared letters: joru. Private to "jouir": i. Private to "jours": s.
"jouir" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "jours" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "jouir" for "jours" ever safe?
Which is more common, "jouir" or "jours"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "jouir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "jours" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,416 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "jouir" and "jours" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jor vs jouir". 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 #414,416 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.