Which to use
“écoule” is a verb and “écoute” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,596
- “écoule” frequency rank
- #1,130
- “écoute” frequency rank
- 18726
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écoule | écoute |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de écouler. | Action d’écouter, ou (vieilli) de faire le guet. |
Where the eye mixes écoule and écoute
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: écoule vs écoute
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écoule is \e.kul\ while écoute is \e.kut\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - l in “écoule” becomes t in “écoute”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 18726, 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\. écoute is at rank #1,130, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.kut\.
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 18726, this pair ranks #376,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of écoule vs écoute
Shared letters: ceoué. Private to "écoule": l. Private to "écoute": t.
"écoule" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV · "écoute" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "écoule" for "écoute" ever safe?
Frequency check: "écoule" vs "écoute" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "écoule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écoute" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #376,875 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écoule" and "écoute" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échouée vs écoule". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #376,875 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.