Which to use
“écluse” and “église” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #29,608
- “écluse” frequency rank
- #892
- “église” frequency rank
- 30500
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écluse | église |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Lieu de culte dans la religion chrétienne. |
Where the eye mixes écluse and église
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. écluse and église follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: écluse vs église
A purely visual mix-up. écluse (\e.klyz\) and église (\e.ɡliz\) 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 30500, 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\. église is at rank #892, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.ɡliz\.
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 30500, this pair ranks #309,911 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écluse vs église
Shared letters: elsé. Private to "écluse": cu. Private to "église": gi.
"écluse" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "église" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "écluse" and "église" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "écluse" or "église"?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "écluse" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "église" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #309,911 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écluse" and "église" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écœuré vs écluse". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #309,911 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.