Which to use
“écoute” and “épouse” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,130
- “écoute” frequency rank
- #2,208
- “épouse” frequency rank
- 3338
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écoute | épouse |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Action d’écouter, ou (vieilli) de faire le guet. | Femme, dans le mariage. |
Where the eye mixes écoute and épouse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
A purely visual mix-up. écoute (\e.kut\) and épouse (\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 3338, 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\. épouse is at rank #2,208, tagged as anoun, 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 3338, this pair ranks #434,270 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of écoute vs épouse
Shared letters: eoué. Private to "écoute": ct. Private to "épouse": ps.
"écoute" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV · "épouse" · 6 letters · shape VCVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "écoute" and "épouse" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "écoute" or "épouse"?
What to do next
You've compared "écoute" and "épouse". Here's where to go from here.
- Full dictionary entry for "écoute" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "épouse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #434,270 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écoute" and "épouse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épouse vs éprise". Nearby pair
PlainSpell is a reference corpus, not spelling advice. Verify unusual forms in context.