Which to use
“ouïe” is a noun and “ouin” is an intj - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #20,804
- “ouïe” frequency rank
- #17,781
- “ouin” frequency rank
- 38585
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | ouïe | ouin |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Sens par lequel on perçoit les sons, les autres sens sont la vue, l’odorat, le goût, le toucher ou encore la douleur. | Onomatopée qui évoque les pleurs. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set ouïe and ouin apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: ouïe is \wi\ while ouin is \wɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs intj), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 38585, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
ouïe is recorded at frequency rank #20,804, classified as anoun, pronounced \wi\. ouin is at rank #17,781, tagged as anintj, pronounced \wɛ̃\.
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 38585, this pair ranks #254,252 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of ouïe vs ouin
Shared letters: ou. Private to "ouïe": eï. Private to "ouin": in.
"ouïe" · 4 letters · shape VVCV · "ouin" · 4 letters · shape VVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- ouin ← oiun · ouinn · ouni · uoin