négrosvsnévroseWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#47,483
“négros” frequency rank
#37,451
“névrose” frequency rank
84934
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature négros névrose
Definition Pluriel de négro. Trouble psychique engendrant une souffrance mentale dont le patient est conscient, contrairement à la psychose.

Where the eye mixes négros and névrose

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. négros runs 6 letters (CVCCVC) against névrose's 7 (CVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
négros
7 ch
névrose

Why the eye confuses négros with névrose

A purely visual mix-up. négros (\ne.ɡʁo\) and névrose (\ne.vʁoz\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84934, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

négros is recorded at frequency rank #47,483, classified as anoun, pronounced \ne.ɡʁo\. névrose is at rank #37,451, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ne.vʁoz\.

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 84934, this pair ranks #12,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of négros vs névrose

Shared letters: norsé. Private to "négros": g. Private to "névrose": ev.

"négros" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC  ·  "névrose" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVCV

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "négros" for "névrose" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ne.ɡʁo\ versus \ne.vʁoz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "négros" vs "névrose" - which ranks higher?
"névrose" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #37,451 in our French list, against #47,483 for "négros". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "négros" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "névrose" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #12,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "négros" and "névrose" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nécrose vs négros". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #12,146 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