Which to use
“joues” is a noun and “jouons” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,471
- “joues” frequency rank
- #23,262
- “jouons” frequency rank
- 28733
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | joues | jouons |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de joue. | Première personne du pluriel du présent de l’indicatif de jouer. |
Where the eye mixes joues and jouons
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses joues with jouons
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: joues is \ʒu\ while jouons is \ʒwɔ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 28733, 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\. jouons is at rank #23,262, tagged as averb, pronounced \ʒwɔ̃\.
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 28733, this pair ranks #321,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of joues vs jouons
Shared letters: josu. Private to "joues": e. Private to "jouons": n.
"joues" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "jouons" · 6 letters · shape CVVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "joues" and "jouons" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "joues" or "jouons"?
After this comparison
Eye-level mix-up between "joues" and "jouons" is sorted above. Next: full entries or other pairs that share a letter shape.
- Full dictionary entry for "joues" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "jouons" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #321,024 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "joues" and "jouons" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "jouons vs jupons". 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 #321,024 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.