Which to use
“écœurant” and “écoutant” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #43,228
- “écœurant” frequency rank
- #11,157
- “écoutant” frequency rank
- 54385
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écœurant | écoutant |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qui écœure, au sens propre et au sens figuré. | Qui écoute. |
Where the eye mixes écœurant and écoutant
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. écœurant and écoutant follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: écœurant vs écoutant
A purely visual mix-up. écœurant (\e.kœ.ʁɑ̃\) and écoutant (\e.ku.tɑ̃\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 54385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écœurant is recorded at frequency rank #43,228, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.kœ.ʁɑ̃\. écoutant is at rank #11,157, tagged as anadj, pronounced \e.ku.tɑ̃\.
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 54385, this pair ranks #134,398 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écœurant vs écoutant
Shared letters: acntué. Private to "écœurant": rœ. Private to "écoutant": o.
"écœurant" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCVCC · "écoutant" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "écœurant" for "écoutant" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "écœurant" or "écoutant" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "écœurant" and "écoutant" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "écœurant" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écoutant" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #134,398 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écœurant" and "écoutant" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écoutaient vs écoutant". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #134,398 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.