opportunvsopportuneWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#16,430
“opportun” frequency rank
#47,487
“opportune” frequency rank
63917
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature opportun opportune
Definition Qui est à propos, selon le temps et le lieu. Féminin singulier de opportun.

Where the eye mixes opportun and opportune

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

8 ch
opportun
9 ch
opportune

Look-alike desk: opportun vs opportune

A purely visual mix-up. opportun (\ɔ.pɔʁ.tœ̃\) and opportune (\ɔ.pɔʁ.tyn\) 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) - “opportun” sits inside “opportune”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 63917, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

opportun is recorded at frequency rank #16,430, classified as anadj, pronounced \ɔ.pɔʁ.tœ̃\. opportune is at rank #47,487, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɔ.pɔʁ.tyn\.

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 63917, this pair ranks #79,547 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of opportun vs opportune

Shared letters: noprtu. Private to "opportun": -. Private to "opportune": e.

"opportun" · 8 letters · shape VCCVCCVC  ·  "opportune" · 9 letters · shape VCCVCCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • opportunopoprtun · oportun · opporrtun · opportnu · opporttun · opportunn · opporutn · oppotrun
  • opportuneopoprtune · oportune · opporrtune · opportnue · opporttune · opportuen · opportunne · opporutne

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "opportun" and "opportune" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɔ.pɔʁ.tœ̃\ versus \ɔ.pɔʁ.tyn\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "opportun" vs "opportune" - which ranks higher?
"opportun" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,430 in our French list, against #47,487 for "opportune". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "opportun" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "opportune" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #79,547 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "opportun" and "opportune" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "opportune vs opportunité". 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 #79,547 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