Which to use
“joue” is a noun and “ju” is a pronoun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #689
- “joue” frequency rank
- #15,920
- “ju” frequency rank
- 16609
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | joue | ju |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Vous, deuxième personne du pluriel, également singulier de politesse : |
Where the eye mixes joue and ju
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses joue with ju
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: joue is \ʒu\ while ju is \ju\. 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 pronoun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 16609, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
joue is recorded at frequency rank #689, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʒu\. ju is at rank #15,920, tagged as apron, pronounced \ju\.
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 16609, this pair ranks #387,045 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of joue vs ju
Shared letters: ju. Private to "joue": eo. Private to "ju": -.
"joue" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "ju" · 2 letters · shape CV
Known mistypes of this pair
- joue ← jjoue · joeu · juoe · ojue
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "joue" and "ju" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "joue" or "ju"?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "joue" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "ju" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #387,045 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "joue" and "ju" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jor vs ju". 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 #387,045 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.