rigolevsrigoloteTell them apart

Which to use

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

#7,234
“rigole” frequency rank
#36,140
“rigolote” frequency rank
43374
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature rigole rigolote
Definition Petit canal creusé dans la terre ou dans la pierre, pour faire couler l’eau à travers un jardin, un pré, etc. Celle qui fait rire, qui est drôle, amusante, marrante.

Where the eye mixes rigole and rigolote

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. rigole runs 6 letters (CVCVCV) against rigolote's 8 (CVCVCVCV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

6 ch
rigole
8 ch
rigolote

Look-alike desk: rigole vs rigolote

A purely visual mix-up. rigole (\ʁi.ɡɔl\) and rigolote (\ʁi.ɡɔ.lo\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 43374, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

rigole is recorded at frequency rank #7,234, classified as anoun, pronounced \ʁi.ɡɔl\. rigolote is at rank #36,140, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ʁi.ɡɔ.lo\.

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 43374, this pair ranks #218,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of rigole vs rigolote

Shared letters: egilor. Private to "rigole": -. Private to "rigolote": t.

"rigole" · 6 letters · shape CVCVCV  ·  "rigolote" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCVCV

Known mistypes of this pair

  • rigole ← irgole · rgiole · riggole · rigloe · rigoel · rigolle · riogle · rrigole
  • rigolote ← irgolote · rgiolote · riggolote · rigloote · rigollote · rigoloet · rigolotte · rigoltoe

Frequently Asked Questions

Do "rigole" and "rigolote" mean the same thing in a sentence?
No. They are said differently (\ʁi.ɡɔl\ versus \ʁi.ɡɔ.lo\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "rigole" vs "rigolote" - which ranks higher?
"rigole" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #7,234 in our French list, against #36,140 for "rigolote". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

What to do next

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "rigole" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "rigolote" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #218,530 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "rigole" and "rigolote" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "rigolos vs rigolote". 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 #218,530 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list