Which to use
“leur” is a determiner and “lueurs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #72
- “leur” frequency rank
- #38,405
- “lueurs” frequency rank
- 38477
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | leur | lueurs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui est à eux ou à elles. | Pluriel de lueur. |
Where the eye mixes leur and lueurs
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. leur runs 4 letters (CVVC) against lueurs's 6 (CVVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between leur and lueurs
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: leur is \lœʁ\ while lueurs is \lɥœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (determiner vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38477, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
leur is recorded at frequency rank #72, classified as adet, pronounced \lœʁ\. lueurs is at rank #38,405, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɥœʁ\.
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 38477, this pair ranks #254,983 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of leur vs lueurs
Shared letters: elru. Private to "leur": -. Private to "lueurs": s.
"leur" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "lueurs" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "leur" for "lueurs" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "leur" or "lueurs" show up more?
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 "leur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "lueurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #254,983 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "leur" and "lueurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "loueurs vs lueurs". 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 #254,983 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.