fouiller

\fu.je\

/\fu.je\/ verb

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

The verdict

“fouiller” has 9 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #11,590. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#11,590
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords
9
tracked misspellings
11
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Pratiquer un creux dans la terre.

Corpus desk

Index FR-fouiller · fouiller · French

fouiller · rank #11,590 · 9 variants · 11 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #11,590
  • LEN-LONG 8 letters
  • VOW-4 4 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 11 pairs
  • VAR-MID 9 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH formelle

Nearest frequency peer: formelle (-1 rank slots)

Desk codes from Wiktionary headword shape, FrequencyWords rank tier, confusable-pair count, generated misspelling depth, letter-cohort book size, and photo-finish peer. Not a difficulty grade.

Pairs de rang près de l'aimant d'erreurs « fouiller »

Même bande de rareté: utile si une faute tombe sur un lemme voisin

corpus weight

What this shows « fouiller » siège parmi ces pairs FrequencyWords; la profondeur des fautes est suivie à part dans le graphique d'édition.

Source FrequencyWords open word-frequency list As of September 3, 2026

Visual similarity to commonly confused words

How many letter changes separate each confused pair (Levenshtein distance, normalized).

fouiller vs fouler
75% similar
fouiller vs fouiner
75% similar
fouiller vs fouilles
88% similar

Source: PlainSpell confusable corpus (Wiktionary, CC BY-SA).

Key facts for fouiller
PropertyValue
Headwordfouiller
LanguageFrench
Part of speechVerb
IPA\fu.je\
Letters8
Frequency rank#11,590
Misspellings tracked9
Confusable pairs11
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « fouiller »

La fréquence va de la poignée de mots du quotidien (gauche) à la longue queue presque jamais vue (droite).fouillerse place ici:

#1#100#1K#10K#100K
← used constantlyrarely used →

Les tics avancent en logarithme; chacun est de l'ordre de dix fois plus rare. Dans la même bande de rareté figurent « formelle » (#11,589), « fourrure » (#11,591), « fonctionnalités » (#11,588). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « fouiller » est au #11,590. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 9 spelling variants around fouiller (IPA \fu.je\), averb. Corpus frequency is #11,590 among 3,276 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 12 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 9 likely wrong-spelling variants for fouiller, with forms such as "ffouiller", "foiuller", and "fouilelr". Every one of these variants traces to a single-character edit -- an added or dropped letter, a swapped consonant, or a vowel swap -- the kind of slip a spell-checker is built to catch. It also participates in 11 confusable-pair relationships, "fouler", "fouiner", "fouilles", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No explicit etymology string is stored for this entry, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is fouiller, spelled F-O-U-I-L-L-E-R.

Definition

  1. 1
    Pratiquer un creux dans la terre.
  2. 2
    Creuser la terre en vue de chercher, de découvrir ce qui y est enfermé.
  3. 3
    Explorer avec soin.
  4. 4
    Examiner les poches ou les vêtements de quelqu’un pour y chercher quelque chose qu’il y aurait cachée.
  5. 5
    Faire d’actives recherches pour un travail scientifique ou autre.
  6. 6
    Bombarder au loin.
  7. 7
    Travailler avec le ciseau les parties renfoncées d’une statue, d’un bas-relief, etc.
  8. 8
    Donner de la force aux touches et aux ombres qui représentent les enfoncements.
  9. 9
    Travailler avec soin, dans le détail
  10. 10
    Attendre en vain ce que l’on espère.
  11. 11
    Chercher.
  12. 12
    Pénétrer, faire l’amour.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

These source excerpts show how fouiller appears in context. They illustrate usage; the definition above remains the entry’s reference meaning.

  1. Derrière, auprès des étables à porcs, entourée d’une portée grouillante, une truie noire fouillait la terre.
  2. […] le chien s’était mis à rôder dans les environs, fouillant avidement les tas d’ordures, sans doute pour y déterrer un os ou quelque régal de ce genre.

Synonyms

rechercherchercher

This word in other languages

dig(English)excavar(Español)durchsuchen(Deutsch)escavar(Português)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ffouiller
  • foiuller
  • fouilelr
  • fouiler
  • fouillerr
  • fouillre
  • fouliler
  • fuoiller
  • ofuiller

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fouiller - expressed in single-character edits (insert, delete, or swap one letter). Bigger bars stand out at a glance; a one-edit slip is the hardest to catch.

ffouiller1foiuller2fouilelr2fouiler1fouillerr1fouillre2fouliler2fuoiller2
Edit distance from "fouiller"

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 "fouiller"?
"fouiller" is spelled F-O-U-I-L-L-E-R. The IPA pronunciation is \fu.je\.
What does "fouiller" mean?
As a verb, "fouiller" means: Pratiquer un creux dans la terre.
What words are commonly confused with "fouiller"?
"fouiller" is commonly confused with "fouler", "fouiner", "fouilles". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "fouiller"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fouiller" is \fu.je\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "fouiller" come from?
"fouiller" is a French word. PlainSpell covers definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Similar French words by spelling shape

Same letter count and similar misspelling depth for "fouiller", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 8 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

formelle#11,589fourrure#11,591garantis#11,593horreurs#11,599

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (9 here; floor ≥5).

flipper9 variantshaleine9 variantsfictif9 variantshunter9 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list