Which to use
“coulées” and “coulis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #26,683
- “coulées” frequency rank
- #43,366
- “coulis” frequency rank
- 70049
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | coulées | coulis |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin pluriel de coulé. | Qui coule. N’est plus usité que dans la locution : Vent coulis : vent qui coule, qui se glisse au travers des fentes et des trous. |
Where the eye mixes coulées and coulis
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. coulées runs 7 letters (CVVCVVC) against coulis's 6 (CVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between coulées and coulis
A purely visual mix-up. coulées (\ku.le\) and coulis (\ku.li\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70049, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
coulées is recorded at frequency rank #26,683, classified as anadj, pronounced \ku.le\. coulis is at rank #43,366, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ku.li\.
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 70049, this pair ranks #52,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of coulées vs coulis
Shared letters: closu. Private to "coulées": eé. Private to "coulis": i.
"coulées" · 7 letters · shape CVVCVVC · "coulis" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- coulis ← ccoulis · coluis · couils · couliss · coullis · coulsi · cuolis · oculis
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "coulées" and "coulis" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "coulées" or "coulis"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "coulées" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "coulis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #52,841 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "coulées" and "coulis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "coulis vs courais". 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 #52,841 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.