nounouvsnounoursWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#18,008
“nounou” frequency rank
#27,150
“nounours” frequency rank
45158
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature nounou nounours
Definition Personne qui garde un ou plusieurs enfants de façon professionnelle ou occasionnellement. Ours en peluche.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set nounou and nounours apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
nounou
8 ch
nounours

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. nounou (\nu.nu\) and nounours (\nu.nuʁs\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “nounou” sits inside “nounours”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45158, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

nounou is recorded at frequency rank #18,008, classified as anoun, pronounced \nu.nu\. nounours is at rank #27,150, tagged as anoun, pronounced \nu.nuʁs\.

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 45158, this pair ranks #204,937 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of nounou vs nounours

Shared letters: nou. Private to "nounou": -. Private to "nounours": rs.

"nounou" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVV  ·  "nounours" · 8 letters · shape CVVCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • nounounnounou · nonuou · nounnou · nounuo · nouonu · nuonou · onunou
  • nounoursnnounours · nonuours · nounnours · nounorus · nounourrs · nounourss · nounousr · nounuors

Frequency comparison

nounou#18,008
nounours#27,150

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "nounou" and "nounours" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\nu.nu\ versus \nu.nuʁs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "nounou" or "nounours"?
"nounou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #18,008 in our French list, against #27,150 for "nounours". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering nounou vs nounours

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “nounou” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list