ouvresvsouvriersWhat's the difference?

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

Which to use

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

#16,436
“ouvres” frequency rank
#3,555
“ouvriers” frequency rank
19991
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature ouvres ouvriers
Definition Deuxième personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de ouvrir. Masculin pluriel de l’adjectif ouvrier.

Where the eye mixes ouvres and ouvriers

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. ouvres runs 6 letters (VVCCVC) against ouvriers's 8 (VVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
ouvres
8 ch
ouvriers

Visual trap between ouvres and ouvriers

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ouvres is \uvʁ\ while ouvriers is \u.vʁi.je\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19991, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

ouvres is recorded at frequency rank #16,436, classified as averb, pronounced \uvʁ\. ouvriers is at rank #3,555, tagged as anadj, pronounced \u.vʁi.je\.

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 19991, this pair ranks #370,477 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of ouvres vs ouvriers

Shared letters: eorsuv. Private to "ouvres": -. Private to "ouvriers": i.

"ouvres" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC  ·  "ouvriers" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • ouvres ← ourves · ouvers · ouvress · ouvrres · ouvrse · ouvvres · ovures · uovres
  • ouvriers ← ourviers · ouvirers · ouvreirs · ouvrierrs · ouvrierss · ouvriesr · ouvrires · ouvrriers

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "ouvres" for "ouvriers" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "ouvres" is a verb and "ouvriers" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "ouvres" or "ouvriers"?
"ouvriers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #3,555 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.

After this comparison

Eye-level mix-up between "ouvres" and "ouvriers" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "ouvres" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "ouvriers" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #370,477 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "ouvres" and "ouvriers" 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 #370,477 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