Which to use
“écoute” is a noun and “écoutées” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,130
- “écoute” frequency rank
- #44,822
- “écoutées” frequency rank
- 45952
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écoute | écoutées |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action d’écouter, ou (vieilli) de faire le guet. | Participe passé féminin pluriel de écouter. |
Where the eye mixes écoute and écoutées
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. écoute runs 6 letters (VCVVCV) against écoutées's 8 (VCVVCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: écoute vs écoutées
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écoute is \e.kut\ while écoutées is \e.ku.te\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45952, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écoute is recorded at frequency rank #1,130, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.kut\. écoutées is at rank #44,822, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.ku.te\.
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 45952, this pair ranks #198,769 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écoute vs écoutées
Shared letters: ceotué. Private to "écoute": -. Private to "écoutées": s.
"écoute" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV · "écoutées" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCVVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "écoute" and "écoutées" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "écoute" or "écoutées" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "écoute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écoutées" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #198,769 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écoute" and "écoutées" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écoutées vs écouteur". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #198,769 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.