Which to use
“écu” is a noun and “exclu” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #28,025
- “écu” frequency rank
- #6,393
- “exclu” frequency rank
- 34418
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | écu | exclu |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Bouclier que portaient autrefois les chevaliers. | À qui l’on interdit. |
Where the eye mixes écu and exclu
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. écu runs 3 letters (VCV) against exclu's 5 (VCCCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: écu vs exclu
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: écu is \e.ky\ while exclu is \ɛks.kly\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 2 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 34418, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
écu is recorded at frequency rank #28,025, classified as anoun, pronounced \e.ky\. exclu is at rank #6,393, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɛks.kly\.
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 34418, this pair ranks #283,966 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of écu vs exclu
Shared letters: cu. Private to "écu": é. Private to "exclu": elx.
"écu" · 3 letters · shape VCV · "exclu" · 5 letters · shape VCCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
- exclu ← ecxlu · excclu · excllu · excul · exlcu · exxclu · xeclu
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "écu" and "exclu" mean the same thing in a sentence?
In ordinary French text, does "écu" or "exclu" 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 "écu" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "exclu" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #283,966 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "écu" and "exclu" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "écu vs EPO". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #283,966 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.