Which to use
“écluse” and “écoute” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,608
- “écluse” frequency rank
- #1,130
- “écoute” frequency rank
- 30738
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écluse | écoute |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Action d’écouter, ou (vieilli) de faire le guet. |
Where the eye mixes écluse and écoute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. écluse (VCCVCV) and écoute (VCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: écluse vs écoute
A purely visual mix-up. écluse (\e.klyz\) and écoute (\e.kut\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30738, 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\. écoute is at rank #1,130, 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 30738, this pair ranks #308,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écluse vs écoute
Shared letters: ceué. Private to "écluse": ls. Private to "écoute": ot.
"écluse" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "écoute" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "écluse" and "écoute" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "écluse" or "écoute" show up more?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "écluse" and "écoute" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "écluse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écoute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #308,299 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écluse" and "écoute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écœuré vs écluse". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #308,299 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.