Which to use
“écluses” is a noun and “exclues” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #30,438
- “écluses” frequency rank
- #24,966
- “exclues” frequency rank
- 55404
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écluses | exclues |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de écluse. | Féminin pluriel de exclu. |
Where the eye mixes écluses and exclues
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. écluses (VCCVCVC) and exclues (VCCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between écluses and exclues
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écluses is \e.klyz\ while exclues is \ɛks.kly\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 5 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 55404, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écluses is recorded at frequency rank #30,438, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.klyz\. exclues is at rank #24,966, 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 55404, this pair ranks #127,664 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écluses vs exclues
Shared letters: celsu. Private to "écluses": é. Private to "exclues": x.
"écluses" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC · "exclues" · 7 letters · shape VCCCVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- exclues ← ecxlues · excclues · excleus · excllues · excluess · excluse · excules · exlcues
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "écluses" and "exclues" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "écluses" or "exclues" show up more?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "écluses" and "exclues" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "écluses" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exclues" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #127,664 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écluses" and "exclues" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "éclipses vs écluses". 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 #127,664 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.