longuesvslongueursWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: longues is a adjective, longueurs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“longues” is an adjective and “longueurs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#2,627
“longues” frequency rank
#11,434
“longueurs” frequency rank
14061
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature longues longueurs
Definition Féminin pluriel de long. Pluriel de longueur.

Where the eye mixes longues and longueurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.

7 ch
longues
9 ch
longueurs

Visual trap between longues and longueurs

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: longues is \lɔ̃ɡ\ while longueurs is \lɔ̃.ɡœʁ\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14061, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

longues is recorded at frequency rank #2,627, classified as anadj, pronounced \lɔ̃ɡ\. longueurs is at rank #11,434, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lɔ̃.ɡœʁ\.

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 14061, this pair ranks #398,354 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of longues vs longueurs

Shared letters: eglnosu. Private to "longues": -. Private to "longueurs": r.

"longues" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "longueurs" · 9 letters · shape CVCCVVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • longuesllongues · lnogues · lognues · longeus · longgues · longuess · longuse · lonngues
  • longueursllongueurs · lnogueurs · lognueurs · longeuurs · longgueurs · longuerus · longueurrs · longueurss

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "longues" and "longueurs" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "longues" is an adjective and "longueurs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "longues" or "longueurs" show up more?
"longues" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #2,627 in our French list, against #11,434 for "longueurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "longues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "longueurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #398,354 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "longues" and "longueurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "longueurs vs loueurs". 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 #398,354 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