Which to use
“échos” and “écus” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,502
- “échos” frequency rank
- #33,086
- “écus” frequency rank
- 45588
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | échos | écus |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de écho. | Pluriel de écu. |
Where the eye mixes échos and écus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. échos runs 5 letters (VCCVC) against écus's 4 (VCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses échos with écus
A purely visual mix-up. échos (\e.ko\) and écus (\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 45588, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
échos is recorded at frequency rank #12,502, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ko\. écus is at rank #33,086, 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 45588, this pair ranks #201,559 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of échos vs écus
Shared letters: csé. Private to "échos": ho. Private to "écus": u.
"échos" · 5 letters · shape VCCVC · "écus" · 4 letters · shape VCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "échos" and "écus" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "échos" or "écus" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "échos" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #201,559 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "échos" and "écus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écus vs étuis". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #201,559 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.