Which to use
“écoule” is a verb and “épouse” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #17,596
- “écoule” frequency rank
- #2,208
- “épouse” frequency rank
- 19804
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écoule | épouse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de écouler. | Femme, dans le mariage. |
Where the eye mixes écoule and épouse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. écoule and épouse follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: écoule vs épouse
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écoule is \e.kul\ while épouse is \e.puz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 19804, 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\. épouse is at rank #2,208, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.puz\.
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 19804, this pair ranks #371,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of écoule vs épouse
Shared letters: eoué. Private to "écoule": cl. Private to "épouse": ps.
"écoule" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV · "épouse" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "écoule" and "épouse" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "écoule" or "épouse"?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "écoule" and "épouse" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "écoule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "épouse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #371,467 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écoule" and "épouse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échouée vs écoule". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #371,467 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.