tuervstueursConfusable pair

Quick tell: tuer is a verb, tueurs is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“tuer” is a verb and “tueurs” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,426
“tuer” frequency rank
#10,425
“tueurs” frequency rank
11851
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature tuer tueurs
Definition Ôter la vie d’une manière violente ; ne se dit pas quand il s’agit d'une euthanasie, ni à la forme pronominale dans le cas d’une mort accidentelle par noyade, étouffement ou empoisonnement : on emploie alors se noyer, s’étouffer, s’empoisonner. Pluriel de tueur.

Where the eye mixes tuer and tueurs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. tuer runs 4 letters (CVVC) against tueurs's 6 (CVVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

4 ch
tuer
6 ch
tueurs

Visual trap between tuer and tueurs

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: tuer is \tɥe\ while tueurs is \tɥœʁ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 11851, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

tuer is recorded at frequency rank #1,426, classified as averb, pronounced \tɥe\. tueurs is at rank #10,425, tagged as anoun, pronounced \tɥœʁ\.

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 11851, this pair ranks #407,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of tuer vs tueurs

Shared letters: ertu. Private to "tuer": -. Private to "tueurs": s.

"tuer" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "tueurs" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • tuerteur · ttuer · tuerr · ture · uter
  • tueursteuurs · ttueurs · tuerus · tueurrs · tueurss · tueusr · tuuers · uteurs

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "tuer" for "tueurs" ever safe?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "tuer" is a verb and "tueurs" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "tuer" or "tueurs" show up more?
"tuer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,426 in our French list, against #10,425 for "tueurs". 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 "tuer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "tueurs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #407,587 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "tuer" and "tueurs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "tears vs tueurs". 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 #407,587 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