Which to use
“échoua” and “écroué” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #41,084
- “échoua” frequency rank
- #42,699
- “écroué” frequency rank
- 83783
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | échoua | écroué |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du singulier du passé simple de échouer. | Participe passé masculin singulier de écrouer. |
Where the eye mixes échoua and écroué
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. échoua and écroué follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: échoua vs écroué
A purely visual mix-up. échoua (\e.ʃwa\) and écroué (\e.kʁu.e\) 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 83783, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
échoua is recorded at frequency rank #41,084, classified as averb, pronounced \e.ʃwa\. écroué is at rank #42,699, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.kʁu.e\.
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 83783, this pair ranks #14,177 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of échoua vs écroué
Shared letters: coué. Private to "échoua": ah. Private to "écroué": r.
"échoua" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV · "écroué" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "échoua" and "écroué" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "échoua" vs "écroué" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "échoua" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écroué" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #14,177 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "échoua" and "écroué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échouée vs écroué". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #14,177 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.