terreurvsterreursTell them apart

Which to use

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

#6,445
“terreur” frequency rank
#42,651
“terreurs” frequency rank
49096
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature terreur terreurs
Definition Émotion profonde causée dans l’âme par la présence, l’annonce, la peinture d’un grand mal ou d’un grand péril ; épouvante, crainte violente. Pluriel de terreur.

Same sound, different letters: terreur vs terreurs

Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 7 letters. terreur runs 7 letters (CVCCVVC) against terreurs's 8 (CVCCVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
terreur
8 ch
terreurs

Same sound, different spelling - terreur / terreurs

This is the hard kind. terreur and terreurs are pronounced identically (\tɛ.ʁœʁ\) 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) - “terreur” sits inside “terreurs”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49096, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

terreur is recorded at frequency rank #6,445, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɛ.ʁœʁ\. terreurs is at rank #42,651, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɛ.ʁœʁ\.

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 49096, this pair ranks #173,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of terreur vs terreurs

Shared letters: ertu. Private to "terreur": -. Private to "terreurs": s.

"terreur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "terreurs" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • terreuretrreur · tererur · tereur · terreru · terreurr · terruer · trereur · tterreur
  • terreursetrreurs · tererurs · tereurs · terrerus · terreurrs · terreurss · terreusr · terruers

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "terreur" and "terreurs" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are pronounced the same (\tɛ.ʁœʁ\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Frequency check: "terreur" vs "terreurs" - which ranks higher?
"terreur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,445 in our French list, against #42,651 for "terreurs". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "terreur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "terreurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #173,522 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "terreur" and "terreurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "terreurs vs terriers". 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 #173,522 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