écorcevsécurieWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

“écorce” and “écurie” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#17,316
“écorce” frequency rank
#10,977
“écurie” frequency rank
28293
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature écorce écurie
Definition Partie superficielle et protectrice des arbres et plus généralement des plantes ligneuses. Bâtiment destiné à loger des chevaux, des mulets, etc.

Where the eye mixes écorce and écurie

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. écorce (VCVCCV) and écurie (VCVCVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
écorce
6 ch
écurie

Visual trap between écorce and écurie

A purely visual mix-up. écorce (\e.kɔʁs\) and écurie (\e.ky.ʁi\) 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 28293, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

écorce is recorded at frequency rank #17,316, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.kɔʁs\. écurie is at rank #10,977, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.ky.ʁi\.

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 28293, this pair ranks #323,729 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of écorce vs écurie

Shared letters: ceré. Private to "écorce": o. Private to "écurie": iu.

"écorce" · 6 letters · shape VCVCCV  ·  "écurie" · 6 letters · shape VCVCVV

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "écorce" and "écurie" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\e.kɔʁs\ versus \e.ky.ʁi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "écorce" vs "écurie" - which ranks higher?
"écurie" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #10,977 in our French list, against #17,316 for "écorce". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

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 "écorce" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "écurie" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #323,729 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "écorce" and "écurie" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écorce vs écrie". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #323,729 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list