écoutesvsémeutesTell them apart

Which to use

“écoutes” and “émeutes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#6,772
“écoutes” frequency rank
#10,106
“émeutes” frequency rank
16878
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature écoutes émeutes
Definition Pluriel de écoute. Pluriel de émeute.

Where the eye mixes écoutes and émeutes

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence.

7 ch
écoutes
7 ch
émeutes

Why the eye confuses écoutes with émeutes

A purely visual mix-up. écoutes (\e.kut\) and émeutes (\e.møt\) 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 16878, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

écoutes is recorded at frequency rank #6,772, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.kut\. émeutes is at rank #10,106, tagged as anoun, pronounced \e.møt\.

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 16878, this pair ranks #385,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.

Orthographic DNA of écoutes vs émeutes

Shared letters: estué. Private to "écoutes": co. Private to "émeutes": m.

"écoutes" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC  ·  "émeutes" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "écoutes" and "émeutes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\e.kut\ versus \e.møt\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "écoutes" or "émeutes"?
"écoutes" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #6,772 in our French list, against #10,106 for "émeutes". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Eye-level mix-up between "écoutes" and "émeutes" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.

  • Full dictionary entry for "écoutes" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "émeutes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #385,815 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "écoutes" and "émeutes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échoués vs écoutes". Nearby pair

Confusion rank #385,815 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list