Which to use
“ouvrière” is a noun and “ouvrir” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #8,280
- “ouvrière” frequency rank
- #1,186
- “ouvrir” frequency rank
- 9466
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ouvrière | ouvrir |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celle qui, moyennant salaire, effectue un travail généralement manuel pour un employeur dans les domaines du bâtiment, de l’industrie ou de l’agriculture. | Faire que ce qui était clos, fermé, ne le soit plus. |
Where the eye mixes ouvrière and ouvrir
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between ouvrière and ouvrir
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ouvrière is \u.vʁi.jɛʁ\ while ouvrir is \u.vʁiʁ\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9466, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ouvrière is recorded at frequency rank #8,280, classified as anoun, pronounced \u.vʁi.jɛʁ\. ouvrir is at rank #1,186, tagged as averb, pronounced \u.vʁiʁ\.
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 9466, this pair ranks #416,541 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of ouvrière vs ouvrir
Shared letters: ioruv. Private to "ouvrière": eè. Private to "ouvrir": -.
"ouvrière" · 8 letters · shape VVCCVVCV · "ouvrir" · 6 letters · shape VVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ouvrir ← ourvir · ouvirr · ouvrirr · ouvrri · ouvrrir · ouvvrir · ovurir · uovrir
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "ouvrière" and "ouvrir" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "ouvrière" or "ouvrir" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "ouvrière" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ouvrir" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #416,541 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "ouvrière" and "ouvrir" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "ouvrir vs ouvrirent". 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 #416,541 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.