échouéevsécouleWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“échouée” and “écoule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#48,277
“échouée” frequency rank
#17,596
“écoule” frequency rank
65873
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature échouée écoule
Definition Participe passé féminin singulier de échouer. Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de écouler.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set échouée and écoule apart are highlighted. They share 5 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

7 ch
échouée
6 ch
écoule

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. échouée (\e.ʃwe\) and écoule (\e.kul\) 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 65873, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

échouée is recorded at frequency rank #48,277, classified as averb, pronounced \e.ʃwe\. écoule is at rank #17,596, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.kul\.

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 65873, this pair ranks #70,393 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of échouée vs écoule

Shared letters: ceoué. Private to "échouée": h. Private to "écoule": l.

"échouée" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVV  ·  "écoule" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV

Frequency comparison

échouée#48,277
écoule#17,596

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "échouée" and "écoule" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.ʃwe\ versus \e.kul\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "échouée" or "écoule"?
"écoule" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #17,596 in our French list, against #48,277 for "échouée". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering échouée vs écoule

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “échouée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list