louéevslouveWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#25,724
“louée” frequency rank
#27,509
“louve” frequency rank
53233
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature louée louve
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. Loup femelle.

Where the spellings diverge

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

5 ch
louée
5 ch
louve

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. louée (\lu.e\) and louve (\luv\) 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 a single letter - é in “louée” becomes v in “louve”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53233, 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\. louve is at rank #27,509, tagged as anoun, pronounced \luv\.

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 53233, this pair ranks #142,170 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of louée vs louve

Shared letters: elou. Private to "louée": é. Private to "louve": v.

"louée" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV  ·  "louve" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • louvellouve · louev · louvve · lovue · luove · oluve

Frequency comparison

louée#25,724
louve#27,509

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "louée" and "louve" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\lu.e\ versus \luv\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "louée" or "louve"?
"louée" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,724 in our French list, against #27,509 for "louve". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering louée vs louve

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