embrouiller

\ɑ̃.bʁu.je\

/\ɑ̃.bʁu.je\/ verb

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

The verdict

“embrouiller” has 14 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #28,537. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#28,537
frequency rank, French
3,255
“E” headwords
14
tracked misspellings
2
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Brouiller, mettre des choses dans une confusion telle qu’on ne peut les démêler.

Corpus desk

Index FR-embrouiller · embrouiller · French

embrouiller · rank #28,537 · 14 variants · 2 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #28,537
  • LEN-MEGA 11 letters
  • VOW-5 5 vowels
  • CONFUS-LOW 2 pairs
  • VAR-HIGH 14 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,255
  • PHOTO-FINISH embarquent

Nearest frequency peer: embarquent (-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 « embrouiller »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « embrouiller » 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).

embrouiller vs embrouilles
91% similar
embrouiller vs embrouillé
82% similar

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

Key facts for embrouiller
PropertyValue
Headwordembrouiller
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\ɑ̃.bʁu.je\
Letters11
Frequency rank#28,537
Misspellings tracked14
Confusable pairs2
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « embrouiller »

De gauche à droite: le peu qui porte la parole quotidienne, puis la longue queue quasi invisible.embrouillerse 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 « embarquent » (#28,536), « Emilio » (#28,538), « encombrant » (#28,539). Parmi 3,255 lemmes en « E », « embrouiller » est au #28,537. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 14 spelling variants around embrouiller (IPA \ɑ̃.bʁu.je\), averb. Corpus frequency is #28,537 among 3,255 “E” headwords. Wiktionary lists 4 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 14 likely wrong-spelling variants for embrouiller, with forms such as "ebmrouiller", "embbrouiller", and "emboruiller". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 2 confusable-pair relationships, "embrouilles", "embrouillé", where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.

This headword's origin isn't recorded in our source data, so its spelling is easiest to reason about phoneme by phoneme, absent a documented history. The correct French form is embrouiller, spelled E-M-B-R-O-U-I-L-L-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Brouiller, mettre des choses dans une confusion telle qu’on ne peut les démêler.
  2. 2
    Troubler quelqu’un, lui faire perdre le fil de ses idées.
  3. 3
    Perdre le fil de ses idées, de son discours.
  4. 4
    Chercher noise ; importuner

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. Le mécanisme de ce cylindre, quoique de la dernière simplicité, ne fut d'abord que très-embrouillé dans ma tête; mais, en attendant que mes premières idées se nettoyassent, je fus si aise de les avoir eues, que j'en tressaillis, […].
  2. Nous voilà de nouveau déroulant le fil et nous rapprochant de la région des batteries. Avant de raccorder notre fil à un autre nous eûmes encore des difficultés ; le fil s’embrouillait ; nous manquions de patience ; d’autant que de gros projectiles tombaient à inter­valles.

Synonyms

bouffer la têtebrouiller les cartesbrouiller les pistesconfusionnerconfuseremberlificoteremmacralerenfumer

Antonyms

débrouiller

This word in other languages

confuse(English)enredar(Español)verwirren(Deutsch)confundir(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ebmrouiller
  • embbrouiller
  • emboruiller
  • embroiuller
  • embrouilelr
  • embrouiler
  • embrouillerr
  • embrouillre
  • embrouliler
  • embrrouiller
  • embruoiller
  • emmbrouiller
  • emrbouiller
  • mebrouiller

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of embrouiller - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ebmrouiller2embbrouiller1emboruiller2embroiuller2embrouilelr2embrouiler1embrouillerr1embrouillre2
Edit distance from "embrouiller"

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 "embrouiller"?
"embrouiller" is spelled E-M-B-R-O-U-I-L-L-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \ɑ̃.bʁu.je\.
What does "embrouiller" mean?
As a verb, "embrouiller" means: Brouiller, mettre des choses dans une confusion telle qu’on ne peut les démêler.
What words are commonly confused with "embrouiller"?
"embrouiller" is commonly confused with "embrouilles", "embrouillé". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "embrouiller"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "embrouiller" is \ɑ̃.bʁu.je\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "embrouiller" come from?
"embrouiller" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
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 "embrouiller", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 11 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

enlèvements#28,540déterminera#28,531désespérant#28,530fournissait#28,565

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (14 here; floor ≥5).

ethnologie14 variantsdécrivait14 variantsdébardeur14 variantsexécutant14 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list