foievsfoyerWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“foie” and “foyer” are a confusable English pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#42,645
“foie” frequency rank
#25,764
“foyer” frequency rank
68409
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foie foyer
Definition Ellipsis of foie gras. A lobby, corridor, or waiting room, used in a hotel, theater, etc.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set foie and foyer apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

4 ch
foie
5 ch
foyer

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

foie and foyer are indexed as a confusable English pair. We have no recorded pronunciation or part of speech for both members, so the spelling overlap is what we can show you: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 68409, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

foie is recorded at frequency rank #42,645, classified as anoun. foyer is at rank #25,764, tagged as anoun, pronounced /ˈfɔɪ.eɪ/.

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 68409, this pair ranks #59,000 of 530,003 scored English confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of foie vs foyer

Shared letters: efo. Private to "foie": i. Private to "foyer": ry.

"foie" · 4 letters · shape CVVV  ·  "foyer" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foieffoie · fioe · foei · ofie
  • foyerffoyer · foeyr · foyerr · foyre · foyyer · fyoer · ofyer

Frequency comparison

foie#42,645
foyer#25,764

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "foie" and "foyer" be used interchangeably?
No. They differ by 1 letter(s) in length, but the dictionary glosses above give them different meanings, so swapping one for the other changes what the sentence says.
Which is more common, "foie" or "foyer"?
"foyer" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #25,764 in our English list, against #42,645 for "foie". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering foie vs foyer

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 “foie” 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