Which to use
“écluse” is a noun and “exclus” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #29,608
- “écluse” frequency rank
- #9,828
- “exclus” frequency rank
- 39436
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écluse | exclus |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Masculin pluriel de exclu. |
Where the eye mixes écluse and exclus
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. écluse (VCCVCV) and exclus (VCCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between écluse and exclus
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écluse is \e.klyz\ while exclus is \ɛks.kly\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 6 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 39436, 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\. exclus is at rank #9,828, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛks.kly\.
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 39436, this pair ranks #247,985 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écluse vs exclus
Shared letters: celsu. Private to "écluse": é. Private to "exclus": x.
"écluse" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCV · "exclus" · 6 letters · shape VCCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- exclus ← ecxlus · excclus · excllus · exclsu · excluss · exculs · exlcus · exxclus
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "écluse" for "exclus" ever safe?
Frequency check: "écluse" vs "exclus" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
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 "exclus" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #247,985 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écluse" and "exclus" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écœuré vs écluse". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #247,985 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.