Which to use
“écoulée” is an adjective and “écouler” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,894
- “écoulée” frequency rank
- #15,783
- “écouler” frequency rank
- 36677
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écoulée | écouler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de écoulé. | Vendre jusqu'a épuisement ; liquider. |
Same sound, different letters: écoulée vs écouler
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters. écoulée (VCVVCVV) and écouler (VCVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Homophone desk: écoulée vs écouler
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: écoulée and écouler carry the same recorded pronunciation, \e.ku.le\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anadjective, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 36677, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écoulée is recorded at frequency rank #20,894, classified as anadj, pronounced \e.ku.le\. écouler is at rank #15,783, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.ku.le\.
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 36677, this pair ranks #267,912 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écoulée vs écouler
Shared letters: celoué. Private to "écoulée": -. Private to "écouler": r.
"écoulée" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVV · "écouler" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "écoulée" for "écouler" ever safe?
Which is more common, "écoulée" or "écouler"?
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 "écoulée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écouler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #267,912 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écoulée" and "écouler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échouée vs écoulée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #267,912 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.