ouvertsvsouvresTell them apart

Quick tell: ouverts is a adjective, ouvres is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“ouverts” is an adjective and “ouvres” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#4,359
“ouverts” frequency rank
#16,436
“ouvres” frequency rank
20795
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ouverts ouvres
Definition Masculin pluriel de ouvert. Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de ouvrir.

Where the eye mixes ouverts and ouvres

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

7 ch
ouverts
6 ch
ouvres

Look-alike desk: ouverts vs ouvres

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ouverts is \u.vɛʁ\ while ouvres is \uvʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 20795, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ouverts is recorded at frequency rank #4,359, classified as anadj, pronounced \u.vɛʁ\. ouvres is at rank #16,436, tagged as averb, pronounced \uvʁ\.

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 20795, this pair ranks #366,461 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ouverts vs ouvres

Shared letters: eorsuv. Private to "ouverts": t. Private to "ouvres": -.

"ouverts" · 7 letters · shape VVCVCCC  ·  "ouvres" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ouverts ← ouevrts · ouverrts · ouverst · ouvertss · ouvertts · ouvetrs · ouvrets · ouvverts
  • ouvres ← ourves · ouvers · ouvress · ouvrres · ouvrse · ouvvres · ovures · uovres

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ouverts" for "ouvres" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ouverts" is an adjective and "ouvres" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "ouverts" vs "ouvres" - which ranks higher?
"ouverts" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,359 in our French list, against #16,436 for "ouvres". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "ouverts" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ouvres" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #366,461 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ouverts" and "ouvres" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "oeuvrer vs ouvres". 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 #366,461 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