terreursvsterreuxWhich spelling fits?

Quick tell: terreurs is a noun, terreux is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“terreurs” is a noun and “terreux” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#42,651
“terreurs” frequency rank
#44,221
“terreux” frequency rank
86872
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature terreurs terreux
Definition Pluriel de terreur. Qui a rapport à la terre, qui est de la nature de la terre.

Where the eye mixes terreurs and terreux

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. terreurs runs 8 letters (CVCCVVCC) against terreux's 7 (CVCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
terreurs
7 ch
terreux

Look-alike desk: terreurs vs terreux

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: terreurs is \tɛ.ʁœʁ\ while terreux is \tɛ.ʁø\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 86872, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

terreurs is recorded at frequency rank #42,651, classified as anoun, pronounced \tɛ.ʁœʁ\. terreux is at rank #44,221, tagged as anadj, pronounced \tɛ.ʁø\.

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 86872, this pair ranks #9,066 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of terreurs vs terreux

Shared letters: ertu. Private to "terreurs": s. Private to "terreux": x.

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

Known mistypes of this pair

  • terreursetrreurs · tererurs · tereurs · terrerus · terreurrs · terreurss · terreusr · terruers
  • terreuxetrreux · tererux · tereux · terreuxx · terrexu · terruex · trereux · tterreux

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "terreurs" for "terreux" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "terreurs" is a noun and "terreux" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "terreurs" or "terreux"?
"terreurs" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #42,651 in our French list, against #44,221 for "terreux". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "terreurs" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "terreux" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #9,066 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "terreurs" and "terreux" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "terreaux vs terreux". 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 #9,066 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