enculervsépaulerWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#14,922
“enculer” frequency rank
#33,088
“épauler” frequency rank
48010
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enculer épauler
Definition Sodomiser. Blesser à l’épaule.

Where the eye mixes enculer and épauler

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. enculer (VCCVCVC) and épauler (VCVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

7 ch
enculer
7 ch
épauler

Look-alike desk: enculer vs épauler

A purely visual mix-up. enculer (\ɑ̃.ky.le\) and épauler (\e.po.le\) 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 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48010, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enculer is recorded at frequency rank #14,922, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.ky.le\. épauler is at rank #33,088, tagged as averb, pronounced \e.po.le\.

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 48010, this pair ranks #182,377 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enculer vs épauler

Shared letters: elru. Private to "enculer": cn. Private to "épauler": apé.

"enculer" · 7 letters · shape VCCVCVC  ·  "épauler" · 7 letters · shape VCVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enculer ← ecnuler · encculer · encluer · encuelr · enculerr · enculler · enculre · ennculer

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enculer" and "épauler" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.ky.le\ versus \e.po.le\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "enculer" vs "épauler" - which ranks higher?
"enculer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,922 in our French list, against #33,088 for "épauler". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "enculer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "épauler" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #182,377 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enculer" and "épauler" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "épauler vs exaucer". 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 #182,377 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