réacteurvsréacteursTell them apart

Quick tell: réacteur is a noun, réacteurs is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“réacteur” is a noun and “réacteurs” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#10,232
“réacteur” frequency rank
#11,293
“réacteurs” frequency rank
21525
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature réacteur réacteurs
Definition Celui qui participe à une réaction. Masculin pluriel de réacteur.

Same sound, different letters: réacteur vs réacteurs

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 8 letters. réacteur runs 8 letters (CVVCCVVC) against réacteurs's 9 (CVVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
réacteur
9 ch
réacteurs

Same sound, different spelling - réacteur / réacteurs

Say them out loud and nothing separates them: réacteur and réacteurs carry the same recorded pronunciation, \ʁe.ak.tœʁ\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “réacteur” sits inside “réacteurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 21525, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

réacteur is recorded at frequency rank #10,232, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.ak.tœʁ\. réacteurs is at rank #11,293, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁe.ak.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 21525, this pair ranks #362,722 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of réacteur vs réacteurs

Shared letters: acertué. Private to "réacteur": -. Private to "réacteurs": s.

"réacteur" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVVC  ·  "réacteurs" · 9 letters · shape CVVCCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "réacteur" and "réacteurs" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "réacteur" is a noun and "réacteurs" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "réacteur" or "réacteurs"?
"réacteur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,232 in our French list, against #11,293 for "réacteurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

"réacteur" and "réacteurs" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.

  • Full dictionary entry for "réacteur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "réacteurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #362,722 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "réacteur" and "réacteurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "réacteurs vs recteurs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #362,722 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