Which to use
“échouer” and “écroué” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #12,699
- “échouer” frequency rank
- #42,699
- “écroué” frequency rank
- 55398
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | échouer | écroué |
|---|---|---|
| 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 singulier de écrouer. |
Where the eye mixes échouer and écroué
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. échouer runs 7 letters (VCCVVVC) against écroué's 6 (VCCVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses échouer with écroué
A purely visual mix-up. échouer (\e.ʃwe\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55398, 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\. 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 55398, this pair ranks #127,710 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of échouer vs écroué
Shared letters: corué. Private to "échouer": eh. Private to "écroué": -.
"échouer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC · "écroué" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "échouer" and "écroué" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "échouer" vs "écroué" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "échouer" 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 #127,710 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "échouer" and "écroué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échouée vs écroué". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #127,710 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.