goûtvsgouterTell them apart

Quick tell: goût is a noun, gouter is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“goût” is a noun and “gouter” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#1,293
“goût” frequency rank
#29,370
“gouter” frequency rank
30663
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature goût gouter
Definition Celui des cinq sens par lequel on discerne les saveurs. Exercer le sens du gout sur ce qui a de la saveur.

Where the eye mixes goût and gouter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.

4 ch
goût
6 ch
gouter

Look-alike desk: goût vs gouter

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: goût is \ɡu\ while gouter is \ɡu.te\. 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 verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 30663, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

goût is recorded at frequency rank #1,293, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɡu\. gouter is at rank #29,370, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɡu.te\.

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 30663, this pair ranks #308,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of goût vs gouter

Shared letters: got. Private to "goût": û. Private to "gouter": eru.

"goût" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "gouter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • gouterggouter · gotuer · gouetr · gouterr · goutre · goutter · guoter · oguter

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "goût" and "gouter" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "goût" is a noun and "gouter" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Which is more common, "goût" or "gouter"?
"goût" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #1,293 in our French list, against #29,370 for "gouter". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

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 "goût" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "gouter" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #308,776 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "goût" and "gouter" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "gouter vs Gruber". 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 #308,776 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