vendeurvsvendeuseWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: vendeur is a adjective, vendeuse is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#4,723
“vendeur” frequency rank
#20,014
“vendeuse” frequency rank
24737
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature vendeur vendeuse
Definition Qui fait vendre. Celle qui vend, qui a vendu. (En termes juridiques on utilise plutôt le terme de venderesse)

Where the eye mixes vendeur and vendeuse

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

7 ch
vendeur
8 ch
vendeuse

Look-alike desk: vendeur vs vendeuse

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: vendeur is \vɑ̃.dœʁ\ while vendeuse is \vɑ̃.døz\. 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 (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 24737, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

vendeur is recorded at frequency rank #4,723, classified as anadj, pronounced \vɑ̃.dœʁ\. vendeuse is at rank #20,014, tagged as anoun, pronounced \vɑ̃.døz\.

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 24737, this pair ranks #344,908 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of vendeur vs vendeuse

Shared letters: denuv. Private to "vendeur": r. Private to "vendeuse": s.

"vendeur" · 7 letters · shape CVCCVVC  ·  "vendeuse" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • vendeurevndeur · vedneur · venddeur · venderu · vendeurr · venduer · venedur · venndeur
  • vendeuseevndeuse · vedneuse · venddeuse · vendesue · vendeues · vendeusse · venduese · veneduse

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "vendeur" and "vendeuse" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "vendeur" is an adjective and "vendeuse" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "vendeur" vs "vendeuse" - which ranks higher?
"vendeur" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #4,723 in our French list, against #20,014 for "vendeuse". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "vendeur" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "vendeuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #344,908 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "vendeur" and "vendeuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "vendeuse vs vendeuses". 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 #344,908 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