Which to use
“écoute” is a noun and “écoutent” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,130
- “écoute” frequency rank
- #11,887
- “écoutent” frequency rank
- 13017
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écoute | écoutent |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action d’écouter, ou (vieilli) de faire le guet. | Troisième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de écouter. |
Same sound, different letters: écoute vs écoutent
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 6 letters.
Homophone desk: écoute vs écoutent
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: écoute and écoutent carry the same recorded pronunciation, \e.kut\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is anoun, the other averb, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They differ by 2 extra letter(s) - “écoute” sits inside “écoutent”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 13017, 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\. écoutent is at rank #11,887, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.kut\.
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 13017, this pair ranks #402,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of écoute vs écoutent
Shared letters: ceotué. Private to "écoute": -. Private to "écoutent": n.
"écoute" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV · "écoutent" · 8 letters · shape VCVVCVCC
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "écoute" and "écoutent" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "écoute" or "écoutent" show up more?
Useful next steps
You've separated the homophone pair "écoute" / "écoutent". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "écoute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écoutent" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #402,772 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écoute" and "écoutent" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écoutent vs épousent". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #402,772 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.