Which to use
“écouler” and “écrouler” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #15,783
- “écouler” frequency rank
- #23,079
- “écrouler” frequency rank
- 38862
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écouler | écrouler |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Vendre jusqu'a épuisement ; liquider. | Tomber en s’affaissant. |
Where the eye mixes écouler and écrouler
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence. écouler runs 7 letters (VCVVCVC) against écrouler's 8 (VCCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between écouler and écrouler
A purely visual mix-up. écouler (\e.ku.le\) and écrouler (\e.kʁu.le\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38862, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écouler is recorded at frequency rank #15,783, classified as averb, pronounced \e.ku.le\. écrouler is at rank #23,079, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.kʁu.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 38862, this pair ranks #252,280 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écouler vs écrouler
Shared letters: celorué. Private to "écouler": -. Private to "écrouler": -.
"écouler" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC · "écrouler" · 8 letters · shape VCCVVCVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "écouler" and "écrouler" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "écouler" or "écrouler" show up more?
Useful next steps
Eye-level mix-up between "écouler" and "écrouler" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "écouler" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écrouler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #252,280 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écouler" and "écrouler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écroué vs écrouler". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #252,280 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.