Which to use
“écoulée” is an adjective and “écroule” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,894
- “écoulée” frequency rank
- #19,432
- “écroule” frequency rank
- 40326
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écoulée | écroule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Féminin singulier de écoulé. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de écrouler. |
Where the eye mixes écoulée and écroule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. écoulée (VCVVCVV) and écroule (VCCVVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Visual trap between écoulée and écroule
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écoulée is \e.ku.le\ while écroule is \e.kʁul\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 4 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 40326, 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\. écroule is at rank #19,432, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.kʁul\.
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 40326, this pair ranks #241,360 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écoulée vs écroule
Shared letters: celoué. Private to "écoulée": -. Private to "écroule": r.
"écoulée" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVV · "écroule" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "écoulée" and "écroule" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "écoulée" vs "écroule" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "écoulée" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écroule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #241,360 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écoulée" and "écroule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échouée vs écoulée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #241,360 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.