Which to use
“nouer” is a verb and “noués” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #21,096
- “nouer” frequency rank
- #49,824
- “noués” frequency rank
- 70920
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | nouer | noués |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Lier au moyen d’un nœud, d'un lien. | Masculin pluriel de noué. |
Same sound, different letters: nouer vs noués
Muted letters are shared; highlighted letters are the only spelling cue when pronunciation matches. Shared run: 3 letters. nouer and noués follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Homophone desk: nouer vs noués
Say them out loud and nothing separates them: nouer and noués carry the same recorded pronunciation, \nwe\. Grammar is what tells them apart: one is averb, the other anadjective, so most sentences will only accept one of them. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 70920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
nouer is recorded at frequency rank #21,096, classified as averb, pronounced \nwe\. noués is at rank #49,824, tagged as anadj, pronounced \nwe\.
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 70920, this pair ranks #49,481 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of nouer vs noués
Shared letters: nou. Private to "nouer": er. Private to "noués": sé.
"nouer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "noués" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- nouer ← nnouer · noeur · nouerr · noure · nuoer · onuer
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "nouer" for "noués" ever safe?
Which is more common, "nouer" or "noués"?
After this comparison
You've separated the homophone pair "nouer" / "noués". Follow the links when you need the full entry or a neighbour that trips the same ear.
- Full dictionary entry for "nouer" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "noués" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #49,481 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "nouer" and "noués" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "nodules vs noués". 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 #49,481 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.