éclusevséclusesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#29,608
“écluse” frequency rank
#30,438
“écluses” frequency rank
60046
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature écluse écluses
Definition Clôture en forme de bassin, faite de terre, de pierre, de bois ou de toute autre matière dans un port, sur une rivière, sur un canal, etc., ayant une ou plusieurs portes qui se lèvent et se baissent ou qui s’ouvrent et se ferment, pour retenir et pour laisser passer l’eau. Pluriel de écluse.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set écluse and écluses apart are highlighted. They share 6 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
écluse
7 ch
écluses

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

This is the hard kind. écluse and écluses are pronounced identically (\e.klyz\) and both work as anoun. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “écluse” sits inside “écluses”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 60046, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

écluse is recorded at frequency rank #29,608, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.klyz\. écluses is at rank #30,438, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.klyz\.

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 60046, this pair ranks #99,758 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of écluse vs écluses

Shared letters: celsué. Private to "écluse": -. Private to "écluses": -.

"écluse" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV  ·  "écluses" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC

Frequency comparison

écluse#29,608
écluses#30,438

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "écluse" and "écluses" be used interchangeably?
No. They are pronounced the same (\e.klyz\), which is exactly why they get swapped in writing, but the dictionary meanings above are different, and pronunciation is no guide here.
Which is more common, "écluse" or "écluses"?
"écluse" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,608 in our French list, against #30,438 for "écluses". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering écluse vs écluses

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 “écluse” 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