louéevsloutreWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“louée” and “loutre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#25,724
“louée” frequency rank
#32,056
“loutre” frequency rank
57780
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature louée loutre
Definition Pratique traditionnelle au cours de laquelle les domestiques proposaient leurs services. Cet usage avait lieu à la Saint-Jean (24 juin) pour les travaux des champs et à la Saint-Martin (11 novembre) pour les travaux d'hiver et de printemps. Espèce de mammifère carnivore de la famille des martres, grand à peu près comme un renard, mais plus bas de pattes, et à tête plate et obtuse, semi-aquatiques, qui vit au bord des rivières.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set louée and loutre apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

5 ch
louée
6 ch
loutre

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. louée (\lu.e\) and loutre (\lutʁ\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 57780, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

louée is recorded at frequency rank #25,724, classified as anoun, pronounced \lu.e\. loutre is at rank #32,056, tagged as anoun, pronounced \lutʁ\.

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 57780, this pair ranks #113,016 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of louée vs loutre

Shared letters: elou. Private to "louée": é. Private to "loutre": rt.

"louée" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV  ·  "loutre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • loutrelloutre · loture · lourte · louter · loutrre · louttre · luotre · olutre

Frequency comparison

louée#25,724
loutre#32,056

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "louée" and "loutre" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lu.e\ versus \lutʁ\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "louée" or "loutre"?
"louée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,724 in our French list, against #32,056 for "loutre". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering louée vs loutre

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “louée” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list FrequencyWords open word-frequency list