médiateurvsmédiateursWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#13,012
“médiateur” frequency rank
#27,535
“médiateurs” frequency rank
40547
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature médiateur médiateurs
Definition Qui opère la médiation. Masculin pluriel de médiateur.

Same sound, different letters: médiateur vs médiateurs

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. médiateur runs 9 letters (CVCVVCVVC) against médiateurs's 10 (CVCVVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
médiateur
10 ch
médiateurs

Same sound, different spelling - médiateur / médiateurs

This is the hard kind. médiateur and médiateurs are pronounced identically (\me.dja.tœʁ\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “médiateur” sits inside “médiateurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40547, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

médiateur is recorded at frequency rank #13,012, classified as anadj, pronounced \me.dja.tœʁ\. médiateurs is at rank #27,535, tagged as anadj, pronounced \me.dja.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 40547, this pair ranks #239,685 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of médiateur vs médiateurs

Shared letters: adeimrtué. Private to "médiateur": -. Private to "médiateurs": s.

"médiateur" · 9 letters · shape CVCVVCVVC  ·  "médiateurs" · 10 letters · shape CVCVVCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "médiateur" for "médiateurs" ever safe?
No. They are pronounced the same (\me.dja.tœʁ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
In ordinary French text, does "médiateur" or "médiateurs" show up more?
"médiateur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #13,012 in our French list, against #27,535 for "médiateurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "médiateur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "médiateurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #239,685 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "médiateur" and "médiateurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "médiateur vs méditer". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #239,685 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