Which to use
“eaux” and “écu” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,863
- “eaux” frequency rank
- #28,025
- “écu” frequency rank
- 29888
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | eaux | écu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de eau. | Bouclier que portaient autrefois les chevaliers. |
Where the eye mixes eaux and écu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 1 letter in sequence. eaux runs 4 letters (VVVC) against écu's 3 (VCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between eaux and écu
A purely visual mix-up. eaux (\o\) and écu (\e.ky\) 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 29888, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
eaux is recorded at frequency rank #1,863, classified as anoun, pronounced \o\. écu is at rank #28,025, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.ky\.
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 29888, this pair ranks #313,843 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of eaux vs écu
Shared letters: u. Private to "eaux": aex. Private to "écu": cé.
"eaux" · 4 letters · shape VVVC · "écu" · 3 letters · shape VCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- eaux ← aeux · eauxx · eaxu · euax
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "eaux" for "écu" ever safe?
Which is more common, "eaux" or "écu"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "eaux" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #313,843 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "eaux" and "écu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écu vs EPO". 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 #313,843 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.