rétroviseurvsrétroviseursTell them apart

Which to use

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

#32,581
“rétroviseur” frequency rank
#44,169
“rétroviseurs” frequency rank
76750
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rétroviseur rétroviseurs
Definition Dispositif présent sur certains véhicules permettant au conducteur d’observer derrière lui sans se retourner. Pluriel de rétroviseur.

Where the eye mixes rétroviseur and rétroviseurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 11 letters in sequence. rétroviseur runs 11 letters (CVCCVCVCVVC) against rétroviseurs's 12 (CVCCVCVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
rétroviseur
12 ch
rétroviseurs

Look-alike desk: rétroviseur vs rétroviseurs

A purely visual mix-up. rétroviseur (\ʁe.tʁo.vi.zœʁ\) and rétroviseurs (\ʁe.tʁɔ.vi.zœʁ\) 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 extra letter(s) - “rétroviseur” sits inside “rétroviseurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76750, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rétroviseur is recorded at frequency rank #32,581, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.tʁo.vi.zœʁ\. rétroviseurs is at rank #44,169, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁe.tʁɔ.vi.zœʁ\.

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 76750, this pair ranks #30,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of rétroviseur vs rétroviseurs

Shared letters: eiorstuvé. Private to "rétroviseur": -. Private to "rétroviseurs": -.

"rétroviseur" · 11 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVC  ·  "rétroviseurs" · 12 letters · shape CVCCVCVCVVCC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "rétroviseur" and "rétroviseurs" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ʁe.tʁo.vi.zœʁ\ versus \ʁe.tʁɔ.vi.zœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "rétroviseur" or "rétroviseurs"?
"rétroviseur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #32,581 in our French list, against #44,169 for "rétroviseurs". 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 "rétroviseur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rétroviseurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #30,258 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics

Confusion rank #30,258 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