échouentvséchouésTell them apart

Which to use

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

#24,449
“échouent” frequency rank
#47,113
“échoués” frequency rank
71562
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature échouent échoués
Definition Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de échouer. Participe passé masculin pluriel de échouer.

Where the eye mixes échouent and échoués

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. échouent runs 8 letters (VCCVVVCC) against échoués's 7 (VCCVVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

8 ch
échouent
7 ch
échoués

Visual trap between échouent and échoués

A purely visual mix-up. échouent (\e.ʃu\) and échoués (\e.ʃwe\) 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 71562, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

échouent is recorded at frequency rank #24,449, classified as averb, pronounced \e.ʃu\. échoués is at rank #47,113, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.ʃwe\.

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 71562, this pair ranks #47,121 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of échouent vs échoués

Shared letters: choué. Private to "échouent": ent. Private to "échoués": s.

"échouent" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVVCC  ·  "échoués" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "échouent" and "échoués" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\e.ʃu\ versus \e.ʃwe\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "échouent" vs "échoués" - which ranks higher?
"échouent" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #24,449 in our French list, against #47,113 for "échoués". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "échouent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "échoués" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,121 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "échouent" and "échoués" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échouée vs échoués". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #47,121 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list