tableauvstableurTell them apart

Which to use

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

#1,279
“tableau” frequency rank
#49,384
“tableur” frequency rank
50663
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tableau tableur
Definition Peinture déplaçable exécuté sur un panneau de bois, sur une plaque de cuivre, sur une toile tendue sur un châssis, etc. Fabricant de table d'harmonie pour les instruments de musique.

Where the eye mixes tableau and tableur

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence.

7 ch
tableau
7 ch
tableur

Why the eye confuses tableau with tableur

A purely visual mix-up. tableau (\ta.blo\) and tableur (\ta.blœʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50663, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tableau is recorded at frequency rank #1,279, classified as anoun, pronounced \ta.blo\. tableur is at rank #49,384, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ta.blœʁ\.

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 50663, this pair ranks #160,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of tableau vs tableur

Shared letters: abeltu. Private to "tableau": -. Private to "tableur": r.

"tableau" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVV  ·  "tableur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tableauatbleau · tabbleau · tabelau · tablaeu · tableua · tablleau · talbeau · tbaleau
  • tableuratbleur · tabbleur · tabelur · tableru · tableurr · tablleur · tabluer · talbeur

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tableau" for "tableur" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ta.blo\ versus \ta.blœʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "tableau" vs "tableur" - which ranks higher?
"tableau" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,279 in our French list, against #49,384 for "tableur". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "tableau" and "tableur" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "tableau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tableur" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #160,897 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tableau" and "tableur" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tableur vs tacler". 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 #160,897 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