Which to use
“noyau” and “noyé” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #6,118
- “noyau” frequency rank
- #15,949
- “noyé” frequency rank
- 22067
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | noyau | noyé |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Partie centrale, dure, d’une drupe et qui contient une amande. On oppose le noyau au pépin de la baie. | Personne qui se noie ou qui a péri par noyade. |
Where the eye mixes noyau and noyé
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. noyau runs 5 letters (CVVVV) against noyé's 4 (CVVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Look-alike desk: noyau vs noyé
A purely visual mix-up. noyau (\nwa.jo\) and noyé (\nwa.je\) 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 22067, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
noyau is recorded at frequency rank #6,118, classified as anoun, pronounced \nwa.jo\. noyé is at rank #15,949, tagged as anoun, pronounced \nwa.je\.
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 22067, this pair ranks #359,976 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of noyau vs noyé
Shared letters: noy. Private to "noyau": au. Private to "noyé": é.
"noyau" · 5 letters · shape CVVVV · "noyé" · 4 letters · shape CVVV
Known mistypes of this pair
- noyau ← nnoyau · noayu · noyua · noyyau · nyoau · onyau
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "noyau" for "noyé" ever safe?
Frequency check: "noyau" vs "noyé" - which ranks higher?
After this comparison
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "noyau" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "noyé" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #359,976 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "noyau" and "noyé" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "noués vs noyé". 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 #359,976 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.