Which to use
“échouer” and “échoués” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,699
- “échouer” frequency rank
- #47,113
- “échoués” frequency rank
- 59812
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | échouer | échoués |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Donner sur le sable, sur un écueil et y stationner plus ou moins longtemps, en parlant d’une embarcation voire d’un cétacé ou de poissons. | Participe passé masculin pluriel de échouer. |
Same sound, different letters: échouer vs échoués
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 5 letters. échouer and échoués follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Ear matches; page differs - échouer and échoués
This is the hard kind. échouer and échoués are pronounced identically (\e.ʃwe\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 59812, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
échouer is recorded at frequency rank #12,699, classified as averb, pronounced \e.ʃwe\. 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 59812, this pair ranks #101,056 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of échouer vs échoués
Shared letters: choué. Private to "échouer": er. Private to "échoués": s.
"échouer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC · "échoués" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "échouer" and "échoués" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "échouer" or "échoués" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "échouer" / "échoués". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "échouer" 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 #101,056 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "échouer" and "échoués" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échouée vs échoués". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #101,056 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.