locuteurvslocuteursWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#30,692
“locuteur” frequency rank
#22,608
“locuteurs” frequency rank
53300
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature locuteur locuteurs
Definition Personne qui parle ; émetteur de l’énonciation. Pluriel de locuteur.

Where the eye mixes locuteur and locuteurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 8 letters in sequence.

8 ch
locuteur
9 ch
locuteurs

Why the eye confuses locuteur with locuteurs

A purely visual mix-up. locuteur (\lɔ.ky.tœʁ\) and locuteurs (\lo.ky.tœʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “locuteur” sits inside “locuteurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53300, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

locuteur is recorded at frequency rank #30,692, classified as anoun, pronounced \lɔ.ky.tœʁ\. locuteurs is at rank #22,608, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lo.ky.tœʁ\.

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 53300, this pair ranks #141,683 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of locuteur vs locuteurs

Shared letters: celortu. Private to "locuteur": -. Private to "locuteurs": s.

"locuteur" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVVC  ·  "locuteurs" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • locuteurlcouteur · llocuteur · loccuteur · loctueur · locuetur · locuteru · locuteurr · locutteur
  • locuteurslcouteurs · llocuteurs · loccuteurs · loctueurs · locueturs · locuterus · locuteurrs · locuteurss

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "locuteur" and "locuteurs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lɔ.ky.tœʁ\ versus \lo.ky.tœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "locuteur" or "locuteurs"?
"locuteurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #22,608 in our French list, against #30,692 for "locuteur". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Eye-level mix-up between "locuteur" and "locuteurs" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "locuteur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "locuteurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #141,683 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "locuteur" and "locuteurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "locuteur vs loueur". 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 #141,683 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