Which to use
“échoués” is a verb and “écoutes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,113
- “échoués” frequency rank
- #6,772
- “écoutes” frequency rank
- 53885
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | échoués | écoutes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Participe passé masculin pluriel de échouer. | Pluriel de écoute. |
Where the eye mixes échoués and écoutes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. échoués (VCCVVVC) and écoutes (VCVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses échoués with écoutes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: échoués is \e.ʃwe\ while écoutes is \e.kut\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53885, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
échoués is recorded at frequency rank #47,113, classified as averb, pronounced \e.ʃwe\. écoutes is at rank #6,772, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.kut\.
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 53885, this pair ranks #137,778 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of échoués vs écoutes
Shared letters: cosué. Private to "échoués": h. Private to "écoutes": et.
"échoués" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC · "écoutes" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "échoués" and "écoutes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "échoués" or "écoutes" show up more?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "échoués" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écoutes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #137,778 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "échoués" and "écoutes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échouée vs échoués". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #137,778 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.