Which to use
“écoule” and “écoulent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #17,596
- “écoule” frequency rank
- #38,112
- “écoulent” frequency rank
- 55708
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écoule | écoulent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de écouler. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de écouler. |
Same sound, different letters: écoule vs écoulent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. écoule runs 6 letters (VCVVCV) against écoulent's 8 (VCVVCVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Ear matches; page differs - écoule and écoulent
This is the hard kind. écoule and écoulent are pronounced identically (\e.kul\) and both work as averb. Neither the ear nor the grammar will rescue you; only the meaning does, so the glosses below are the whole decision. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “écoule” sits inside “écoulent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55708, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écoule is recorded at frequency rank #17,596, classified as averb, pronounced \e.kul\. écoulent is at rank #38,112, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.kul\.
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 55708, this pair ranks #125,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écoule vs écoulent
Shared letters: celoué. Private to "écoule": -. Private to "écoulent": nt.
"écoule" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV · "écoulent" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "écoule" for "écoulent" ever safe?
Which is more common, "écoule" or "écoulent"?
After this comparison
Sound matches; spelling doesn't. Use the exits below to lock the right form or check a cousin pair.
- Full dictionary entry for "écoule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écoulent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #125,726 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écoule" and "écoulent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écoulent vs épousent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #125,726 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.