Which to use
“sapeur” and “sapeurs” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #42,034
- “sapeur” frequency rank
- #16,999
- “sapeurs” frequency rank
- 59033
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | sapeur | sapeurs |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Celui qui est employé à la sape. | Pluriel de sapeur. |
Same sound, different letters: sapeur vs sapeurs
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. sapeur runs 6 letters (CVCVVC) against sapeurs's 7 (CVCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - sapeur / sapeurs
This is the hard kind. sapeur and sapeurs are pronounced identically (\sa.pœʁ\) and both work as anoun. 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) - “sapeur” sits inside “sapeurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59033, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
sapeur is recorded at frequency rank #42,034, classified as anoun, pronounced \sa.pœʁ\. sapeurs is at rank #16,999, tagged as anoun, pronounced \sa.pœʁ\.
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 59033, this pair ranks #105,460 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of sapeur vs sapeurs
Shared letters: aeprsu. Private to "sapeur": -. Private to "sapeurs": -.
"sapeur" · 6 letters · shape CVCVVC · "sapeurs" · 7 letters · shape CVCVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "sapeur" for "sapeurs" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "sapeur" or "sapeurs" show up more?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "sapeur" / "sapeurs". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "sapeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "sapeurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #105,460 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "sapeur" and "sapeurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "saber vs sapeur". 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 #105,460 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.