récepteurvsrécepteursWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#15,244
“récepteur” frequency rank
#20,554
“récepteurs” frequency rank
35798
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature récepteur récepteurs
Definition Qui reçoit. Masculin pluriel de récepteur.

Same sound, different letters: récepteur vs récepteurs

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 9 letters. récepteur runs 9 letters (CVCVCCVVC) against récepteurs's 10 (CVCVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

9 ch
récepteur
10 ch
récepteurs

Same sound, different spelling - récepteur / récepteurs

This is the hard kind. récepteur and récepteurs are pronounced identically (\ʁe.sɛp.tœʁ\) and both work as anadjective. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “récepteur” sits inside “récepteurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 35798, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

récepteur is recorded at frequency rank #15,244, classified as anadj, pronounced \ʁe.sɛp.tœʁ\. récepteurs is at rank #20,554, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ʁe.sɛp.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 35798, this pair ranks #274,161 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of récepteur vs récepteurs

Shared letters: ceprtué. Private to "récepteur": -. Private to "récepteurs": s.

"récepteur" · 9 letters · shape CVCVCCVVC  ·  "récepteurs" · 10 letters · shape CVCVCCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "récepteur" and "récepteurs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\ʁe.sɛp.tœʁ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "récepteur" or "récepteurs"?
"récepteur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #15,244 in our French list, against #20,554 for "récepteurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.

  • Full dictionary entry for "récepteur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "récepteurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #274,161 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "récepteur" and "récepteurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "récepteurs vs recteurs". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #274,161 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