Which to use
“écoulent” and “épousent” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,112
- “écoulent” frequency rank
- #45,968
- “épousent” frequency rank
- 84080
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écoulent | épousent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de écouler. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de épouser. |
Where the eye mixes écoulent and épousent
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. écoulent and épousent follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCVVCVCC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Why the eye confuses écoulent with épousent
A purely visual mix-up. écoulent (\e.kul\) and épousent (\e.puz\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 84080, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écoulent is recorded at frequency rank #38,112, classified as averb, pronounced \e.kul\. épousent is at rank #45,968, tagged as averb, 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 84080, this pair ranks #13,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of écoulent vs épousent
Shared letters: enotué. Private to "écoulent": cl. Private to "épousent": ps.
"écoulent" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCVCC · "épousent" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "écoulent" and "épousent" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "écoulent" vs "épousent" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Eye-level mix-up between "écoulent" and "épousent" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "écoulent" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "épousent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #13,613 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écoulent" and "épousent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épousent vs excusent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #13,613 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.