Which to use
“écroule” and “éprouve” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #19,432
- “écroule” frequency rank
- #11,509
- “éprouve” frequency rank
- 30941
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écroule | éprouve |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de écrouler. | Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de éprouver. |
Where the eye mixes écroule and éprouve
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. écroule and éprouve follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVCV). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Look-alike desk: écroule vs éprouve
A purely visual mix-up. écroule (\e.kʁul\) and éprouve (\e.pʁuv\) 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 30941, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écroule is recorded at frequency rank #19,432, classified as averb, pronounced \e.kʁul\. éprouve is at rank #11,509, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.pʁuv\.
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 30941, this pair ranks #307,006 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écroule vs éprouve
Shared letters: eorué. Private to "écroule": cl. Private to "éprouve": pv.
"écroule" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV · "éprouve" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVCV
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "écroule" and "éprouve" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "écroule" or "éprouve" show up more?
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 "écroule" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "éprouve" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #307,006 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écroule" and "éprouve" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "échouée vs écroule". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #307,006 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.