travailleurvstravailleuseConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#7,507
“travailleur” frequency rank
#31,289
“travailleuse” frequency rank
38796
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature travailleur travailleuse
Definition Celui qui s’adonne au travail. Celle qui s’adonne au travail.

Where the eye mixes travailleur and travailleuse

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 10 letters in sequence. travailleur runs 11 letters (CCVCVVCCVVC) against travailleuse's 12 (CCVCVVCCVVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

11 ch
travailleur
12 ch
travailleuse

Why the eye confuses travailleur with travailleuse

A purely visual mix-up. travailleur (\tʁa.va.jœʁ\) and travailleuse (\tʁa.va.jøz\) 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 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38796, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

travailleur is recorded at frequency rank #7,507, classified as anoun, pronounced \tʁa.va.jœʁ\. travailleuse is at rank #31,289, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tʁa.va.jøz\.

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 38796, this pair ranks #252,739 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of travailleur vs travailleuse

Shared letters: aeilrtuv. Private to "travailleur": -. Private to "travailleuse": s.

"travailleur" · 11 letters · shape CCVCVVCCVVC  ·  "travailleuse" · 12 letters · shape CCVCVVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • travailleur ← rtavailleur · tarvailleur · traavilleur · travailelur · travaileur · travailleru · travailleurr · travailluer
  • travailleuse ← rtavailleuse · tarvailleuse · traavilleuse · travaileluse · travaileuse · travaillesue · travailleues · travailluese

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "travailleur" and "travailleuse" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\tʁa.va.jœʁ\ versus \tʁa.va.jøz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "travailleur" or "travailleuse"?
"travailleur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,507 in our French list, against #31,289 for "travailleuse". 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 "travailleur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "travailleuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #252,739 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "travailleur" and "travailleuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "travaillée vs travailleuse". 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 #252,739 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