prêcheursvsprêteursWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#43,092
“prêcheurs” frequency rank
#33,852
“prêteurs” frequency rank
76944
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature prêcheurs prêteurs
Definition Pluriel de prêcheur. Pluriel de prêteur.

Where the eye mixes prêcheurs and prêteurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. prêcheurs runs 9 letters (CCVCCVVCC) against prêteurs's 8 (CCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
prêcheurs
8 ch
prêteurs

Why the eye confuses prêcheurs with prêteurs

A purely visual mix-up. prêcheurs (\pʁɛ.ʃœʁ\) and prêteurs (\pʁɛ.tœʁ\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76944, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

prêcheurs is recorded at frequency rank #43,092, classified as anoun, pronounced \pʁɛ.ʃœʁ\. prêteurs is at rank #33,852, tagged as anoun, pronounced \pʁɛ.tœʁ\.

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 76944, this pair ranks #29,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of prêcheurs vs prêteurs

Shared letters: eprsuê. Private to "prêcheurs": ch. Private to "prêteurs": t.

"prêcheurs" · 9 letters · shape CCVCCVVCC  ·  "prêteurs" · 8 letters · shape CCVCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "prêcheurs" for "prêteurs" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\pʁɛ.ʃœʁ\ versus \pʁɛ.tœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "prêcheurs" vs "prêteurs" - which ranks higher?
"prêteurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #33,852 in our French list, against #43,092 for "prêcheurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "prêcheurs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "prêteurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #29,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "prêcheurs" and "prêteurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "prêches vs prêcheurs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #29,733 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