Which to use
“écoute” is a noun and “écroué” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #1,130
- “écoute” frequency rank
- #42,699
- “écroué” frequency rank
- 43829
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écoute | écroué |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action d’écouter, ou (vieilli) de faire le guet. | Participe passé masculin singulier de écrouer. |
Where the eye mixes écoute and écroué
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. écoute (VCVVCV) and écroué (VCCVVV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses écoute with écroué
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écoute is \e.kut\ while écroué is \e.kʁu.e\. 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 (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43829, 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\. écroué is at rank #42,699, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.kʁu.e\.
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 43829, this pair ranks #215,069 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écoute vs écroué
Shared letters: coué. Private to "écoute": et. Private to "écroué": r.
"écoute" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV · "écroué" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "écoute" and "écroué" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "écoute" or "écroué"?
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 "écoute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "écroué" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #215,069 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écoute" and "écroué" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échouée vs écroué". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #215,069 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.