planètevsplaneurWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#1,492
“planète” frequency rank
#44,099
“planeur” frequency rank
45591
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature planète planeur
Definition Corps céleste plutôt sphérique plus gros qu’un astéroïde, ne produisant pas de lumière propre, en orbite autour d’une ou plusieurs étoiles. Avion sans moteur, pouvant planer de façon prolongée et pratiquer le vol à voile.

Where the eye mixes planète and planeur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. planète (CCVCVCV) and planeur (CCVCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
planète
7 ch
planeur

Look-alike desk: planète vs planeur

A purely visual mix-up. planète (\pla.nɛt\) and planeur (\pla.nœʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45591, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

planète is recorded at frequency rank #1,492, classified as anoun, pronounced \pla.nɛt\. planeur is at rank #44,099, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pla.nœʁ\.

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 45591, this pair ranks #201,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of planète vs planeur

Shared letters: aelnp. Private to "planète": tè. Private to "planeur": ru.

"planète" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVCV  ·  "planeur" · 7 letters · shape CCVCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • planeur ← lpaneur · palneur · plaenur · planeru · planeurr · planneur · planuer · pllaneur

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "planète" for "planeur" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pla.nɛt\ versus \pla.nœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "planète" or "planeur"?
"planète" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,492 in our French list, against #44,099 for "planeur". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "planète" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "planeur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #201,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "planète" and "planeur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "planeur vs puanteur". 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 #201,537 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