Which to use
“joues” is a noun and “jouez” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,471
- “joues” frequency rank
- #8,729
- “jouez” frequency rank
- 14200
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | joues | jouez |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de joue. | Deuxième personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de jouer. |
Where the eye mixes joues and jouez
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between joues and jouez
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: joues is \ʒu\ while jouez is \ʒwe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - s in “joues” becomes z in “jouez”, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 14200, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
joues is recorded at frequency rank #5,471, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʒu\. jouez is at rank #8,729, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʒwe\.
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 14200, this pair ranks #397,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of joues vs jouez
Shared letters: ejou. Private to "joues": s. Private to "jouez": z.
"joues" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "jouez" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "joues" for "jouez" ever safe?
Frequency check: "joues" vs "jouez" - which ranks higher?
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 "joues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "jouez" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #397,733 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "joues" and "jouez" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jerez vs jouez". 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 #397,733 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.