écume

\e.kym\

/\e.kym\/ noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“écume” has 7 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #26,228. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#26,228
frequency rank, French
1,805
“É” headwords
7
tracked misspellings
18
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Sorte de mousse blanchâtre qui se forme à la surface des liquides agités, chauffés, ou en fermentation.

Corpus desk

Index FR-ecume · écume · French

écume · rank #26,228 · 7 variants · 18 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #26,228
  • LEN-MID 5 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-HIGH 18 pairs
  • VAR-MID 7 variants
  • BOOK-MID 1,805
  • PHOTO-FINISH yin

Nearest frequency peer: yin (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « écume »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « écume » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

écume vs eue
40% similar
écume vs élue
60% similar
écume vs émue
60% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for écume
PropertyValue
Headwordécume
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\e.kym\
Letters5
Frequency rank#26,228
Misspellings tracked7
Confusable pairs18
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « écume »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).écumese place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

L'axe est logarithmique: chaque tic marque environ dix fois moins de fréquence. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « yin » (#26,227), « édités » (#26,229), « xénophobie » (#26,226). Parmi 1,805 lemmes en « É », « écume » est au #26,228. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 7 spelling variants around écume (IPA \e.kym\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #26,228 among 1,805 “É” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 7 likely wrong-spelling variants for écume, with forms such as "céume", "ecume", and "éccume". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 18 confusable-pair relationships, "eue", "élue", "émue", and more, a pairing that trips writers up because the two words share enough sound or shape to blur together.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct French form is écume, spelled É-C-U-M-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Sorte de mousse blanchâtre qui se forme à la surface des liquides agités, chauffés, ou en fermentation.
  2. 2
    Bave de certains animaux.
  3. 3
    Bave mousseuse qui vient aux lèvres d’une personne.
  4. 4
    Sueur qui s’amasse sur le corps du cheval.
  5. 5
    Partie la plus vile d’une foule.
  6. 6
    Scories à la surface des métaux en fusion.
  7. 7
    Nom du mâchefer dans les ouvrages de rocailles.
  8. 8
    Matière de certaines pipes, au propre écume de mer.
  9. 9
    Partie effervescente et superficielle d'un phénomène.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how écume appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Comme la mer puérile, riche en jeux, en étourderies, lui paraissait bien servir de cadre à des enfants ! Il ne devrait y avoir que des jeunes yeux pour la regarder, songeait-il. Comme doit souffrir toute cette écume dans son extrême fragilité, quand ce sont des hommes faits et de vraies femmes qui la dévisagent.
  2. Dans le choc très brutal de l’amerrissage, un croisillonnage céda et l’extrémité de l’aile gauche baignait dans l’écume.

This word in other languages

foam(English)espuma(Español)Gischt(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • céume
  • ecume
  • éccume
  • écmue
  • écuem
  • écumme
  • éucme

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of écume - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

céume2ecume1éccume1écmue2écuem2écumme1éucme2
Edit distance from "écume"

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "écume"?
"écume" is spelled É-C-U-M-E. The IPA pronunciation is \e.kym\.
What does "écume" mean?
As a noun, "écume" means: Sorte de mousse blanchâtre qui se forme à la surface des liquides agités, chauffés, ou en fermentation.
What words are commonly confused with "écume"?
"écume" is commonly confused with "eue", "élue", "émue". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "écume"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "écume" is \e.kym\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "écume" come from?
"écume" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "écume", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 5 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

émeut#26,230Wanda#26,222étire#26,236Viola#26,216

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (7 here; floor ≥5).

addict7 variantstruffe7 variantsajouta7 variantsAllard7 variants

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list