goûtevsgouterConfusable pair

Which to use

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

#16,632
“goûte” frequency rank
#29,370
“gouter” frequency rank
46002
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature goûte gouter
Definition Première personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de goûter. Exercer le sens du gout sur ce qui a de la saveur.

Where the eye mixes goûte and gouter

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.

5 ch
goûte
6 ch
gouter

Visual trap between goûte and gouter

A purely visual mix-up. goûte (\ɡut\) and gouter (\ɡu.te\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46002, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

goûte is recorded at frequency rank #16,632, classified as averb, pronounced \ɡut\. 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 46002, this pair ranks #198,405 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of goûte vs gouter

Shared letters: egot. Private to "goûte": û. Private to "gouter": ru.

"goûte" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV  ·  "gouter" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

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

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "goûte" and "gouter" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ɡut\ versus \ɡu.te\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "goûte" vs "gouter" - which ranks higher?
"goûte" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,632 in our French list, against #29,370 for "gouter". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

After this comparison

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "goûte" 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 #198,405 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "goûte" 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 #198,405 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