fouet
\fwɛ\
The verdict
“fouet” is a regularly-used French word, ranked #9,837 in French word frequency and used as a noun.
- #9,837
- frequency rank, French
- 5
- letters
- 5
- tracked misspellings
- 20
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Cordelette de chanvre ou de cuir, qui est attachée à une baguette, à un bâton, et dont on se sert pour conduire et pour châtier les chevaux et autres animaux, voire, dans certains pays ou à certain...
Visual similarity to commonly confused words
How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).
Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | fouet |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Noun |
| IPA | \fwɛ\ |
| Letters | 5 |
| Frequency rank | #9,837 |
| Misspellings tracked | 5 |
| Confusable pairs | 20 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fouet” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for fouet is 5 letters long, classified as a noun, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \fwɛ\. Corpus data places it at rank #9,837 in overall French word frequency, indicating it appears regularly in written and spoken text. Wiktionary records 15 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our generated misspelling index lists 5 likely wrong-spelling variants for fouet, with forms such as "ffouet", "foeut", and "fouett". Each variant is a distinct typo pattern an edit-distance generator flags, typically a doubled-consonant error, a silent-letter drop, or a vowel substitution. It also participates in 20 confusable-pair relationships, "fût", "fous", "fout", and more, where similar look or sound leads writers to substitute one word for another in context.
Our source data has no etymology on file for this entry, leaving phoneme-to-grapheme mapping as the best guide to its spelling rather than a borrowing history. The correct French form is fouet, spelled F-O-U-E-T.
Definition
- 1Cordelette de chanvre ou de cuir, qui est attachée à une baguette, à un bâton, et dont on se sert pour conduire et pour châtier les chevaux et autres animaux, voire, dans certains pays ou à certaines époques, pour punir une personne condamnée.
- 2Cordelette serrée qui sert de mèche au fouet des cochers et les charretiers.
- 3Coups de verges, de lanières ou de corde à nœuds destinés à châtier un criminel.
- 4Violente secousse ou coup cinglant qui rappelle l’effet douloureux d’un coup de fouet.
- 5Corde ; longueur de mât.
- 6Lanière de cuir ou de peau d’anguille qui est attachée au bout d’un petit bâton et qui sert aux enfants pour faire tourner un sabot.
- 7Bout de l’aile d’un oiseau.
- 8Queue du chien.
- 9Ustensile de cuisine, constitué de tiges souples repliées sur elles-mêmes, destiné à mélanger, ou à homogénéiser une préparation.
- 10Jeune congre (poisson).
- 11Ouvrier de verrerie qui arrangeait les bouteilles dans le four.
- 12Synonyme de canne à mouche.
- 13Instrument à percussion composé de deux planchettes de bois que l’on claque l’une contre l’autre.
- 14Carillon médiéval composé d’un ensemble de clochettes attachée sur une tige métallique que l'on agitait.
- 15Couleuvre verte et jaune, nommée aussi cinglard. Son appellation binomiale est : Hierophis viridiflavus.
This word in other languages
Common misspellings
Also misspelled as: ffouet,foeut,fouett,fuoet,ofuet
Misspelling Pattern Breakdown
How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fouet - measured in single-character edits (insert, delete, or substitute a letter). Larger bars are easier to catch; one-edit slips are the sneakiest.
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA); frequency ordering uses the FrequencyWords open word-frequency list (2018 French corpus, MIT). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do you spell "fouet"?
What does "fouet" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "fouet"?
How do you pronounce "fouet"?
What language does "fouet" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “fouet”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is F-O-U-E-T - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \fwɛ\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fût” - see the side-by-side comparison. fouet vs fût
- Browse more French words and confusable pairs in the same reference. French words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.