Which to use
“jouais” is a verb and “joutes” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #14,296
- “jouais” frequency rank
- #31,570
- “joutes” frequency rank
- 45866
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | jouais | joutes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’imparfait de l’indicatif de jouer. | Pluriel de joute. |
Where the eye mixes jouais and joutes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. jouais (CVVVVC) and joutes (CVVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses jouais with joutes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: jouais is \ʒwɛ\ while joutes is \ʒut\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 45866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
jouais is recorded at frequency rank #14,296, classified as averb, pronounced \ʒwɛ\. joutes is at rank #31,570, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʒut\.
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 45866, this pair ranks #199,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of jouais vs joutes
Shared letters: josu. Private to "jouais": ai. Private to "joutes": et.
"jouais" · 6 letters · shape CVVVVC · "joutes" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "jouais" for "joutes" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "jouais" or "joutes" show up more?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "jouais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "joutes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #199,427 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "jouais" and "joutes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "joutes vs jouxte". 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 #199,427 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.