Which to use
“joue” is a noun and “joui” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #689
- “joue” frequency rank
- #30,676
- “joui” frequency rank
- 31365
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | joue | joui |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie du visage de l’humain qui est au-dessous des tempes et des yeux, et qui s’étend de chaque côté du nez jusqu’au menton dont la peau ferme latéralement la bouche. | Participe passé masculin singulier de jouir. |
Where the eye mixes joue and joui
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between joue and joui
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: joue is \ʒu\ while joui is \ʒwi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - e in “joue” becomes i in “joui”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 31365, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
joue is recorded at frequency rank #689, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʒu\. joui is at rank #30,676, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʒwi\.
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 31365, this pair ranks #304,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of joue vs joui
Shared letters: jou. Private to "joue": e. Private to "joui": i.
"joue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "joui" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "joue" for "joui" ever safe?
Frequency check: "joue" vs "joui" - which ranks higher?
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 "joue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "joui" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #304,250 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "joue" and "joui" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jor vs joui". 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 #304,250 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.