bouillevsbouilliWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: bouille is a noun, bouilli is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

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

#31,856
“bouille” frequency rank
#43,301
“bouilli” frequency rank
75157
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature bouille bouilli
Definition Longue perche dont un bouilleur se sert pour battre les herbiers, remuer la vase et troubler l’eau, afin que le poisson entre plus facilement dans les filets. Qu’on a fait bouillir.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set bouille and bouilli apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
bouille
7 ch
bouilli

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: bouille is \buj\ while bouilli is \bu.ji\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “bouille” becomes i in “bouilli”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 75157, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

bouille is recorded at frequency rank #31,856, classified as anoun, pronounced \buj\. bouilli is at rank #43,301, tagged as anadj, pronounced \bu.ji\.

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 75157, this pair ranks #34,963 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of bouille vs bouilli

Shared letters: bilou. Private to "bouille": e. Private to "bouilli": -.

"bouille" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV  ·  "bouilli" · 7 letters · shape CVVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • bouillebbouille · boiulle · bouile · bouilel · boulile · buoille · obuille
  • bouillibbouilli · boiulli · bouili · bouilil · boulili · buoilli · obuilli

Frequency comparison

bouille#31,856
bouilli#43,301

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "bouille" and "bouilli" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "bouille" is a noun and "bouilli" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "bouille" or "bouilli"?
"bouille" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #31,856 in our French list, against #43,301 for "bouilli". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering bouille vs bouilli

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “bouille”; for an adjective, it's “bouilli”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “bouille” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list