flouvsflourWhat's the difference?

Quick tell: flou is a adjective, flour is a noun, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“flou” is an adjective and “flour” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#7,440
“flou” frequency rank
#48,533
“flour” frequency rank
55973
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature flou flour
Definition D'un coloris sans vigueur, qui manque de netteté des contours ou des arêtes. Farine.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set flou and flour apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
flou
5 ch
flour

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: flou is \flu\ while flour is \ˈflaʊ.ɚ\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 extra letter(s) - “flou” sits inside “flour”, and the parts of speech differ too (adjective vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 55973, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

flou is recorded at frequency rank #7,440, classified as anadj, pronounced \flu\. flour is at rank #48,533, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ˈflaʊ.ɚ\.

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 55973, this pair ranks #124,015 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of flou vs flour

Shared letters: flou. Private to "flou": -. Private to "flour": r.

"flou" · 4 letters · shape CCVV  ·  "flour" · 5 letters · shape CCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • floufflou · fllou · folu · lfou
  • flourfflour · fllour · floru · flourr · folur · lfour

Frequency comparison

flou#7,440
flour#48,533

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "flou" and "flour" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "flou" is an adjective and "flour" a noun, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "flou" or "flour"?
"flou" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,440 in our French list, against #48,533 for "flour". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering flou vs flour

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Check the role first: if you need an adjective, it's “flou”; for a noun, it's “flour”.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “flou” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list