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 spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set écluse and exclus apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
écluse and exclus form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 6 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. 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.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "écluse" and "exclus" be used interchangeably?
Remembering écluse vs exclus
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Check the role first: if you need a noun, it's “écluse”; for an adjective, it's “exclus”.
- 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