Which to use
“cuiller” and “cuillère” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #37,263
- “cuiller” frequency rank
- #11,026
- “cuillère” frequency rank
- 48289
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | cuiller | cuillère |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Autre orthographe possible pour cuillère. | Ustensile de table formé d’un manche et d’un cuilleron dont on se sert ordinairement pour manger le potage et d’autres aliments liquides ou de peu de consistance. |
Same sound, different letters: cuiller vs cuillère
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. cuiller runs 7 letters (CVVCCVC) against cuillère's 8 (CVVCCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Same sound, different spelling - cuiller / cuillère
This is the hard kind. cuiller and cuillère are pronounced identically (\kɥi.jɛʁ\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48289, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
cuiller is recorded at frequency rank #37,263, classified as anoun, pronounced \kɥi.jɛʁ\. cuillère is at rank #11,026, tagged as anoun, pronounced \kɥi.jɛʁ\.
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 48289, this pair ranks #180,086 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of cuiller vs cuillère
Shared letters: ceilru. Private to "cuiller": -. Private to "cuillère": è.
"cuiller" · 7 letters · shape CVVCCVC · "cuillère" · 8 letters · shape CVVCCVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- cuiller ← ccuiller · ciuller · cuilelr · cuiler · cuillerr · cuillre · culiler · uciller
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "cuiller" and "cuillère" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "cuiller" or "cuillère"?
What to do next
"cuiller" and "cuillère" share a sound, keep the gloss open, then jump to the headword or a nearby trap.
- Full dictionary entry for "cuiller" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "cuillère" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #180,086 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "cuiller" and "cuillère" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "cuiller vs cuillerée". 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 #180,086 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.