fouiller
\fu.je\
The verdict
“fouiller” is a moderately-common French word, ranked #11,590 in French word frequency and used as a verb.
- #11,590
- frequency rank, French
- 8
- letters
- 9
- tracked misspellings
- 11
- confusable pairs
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - Pratiquer un creux dans la terre.
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 | fouiller |
| Language | French |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | \fu.je\ |
| Letters | 8 |
| Frequency rank | #11,590 |
| Misspellings tracked | 9 |
| Confusable pairs | 11 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “fouiller” sits in French frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The French entry for fouiller is 8 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as \fu.je\. Corpus data places it at rank #11,590 in overall French word frequency, marking it as uncommon enough that many writers pause before typing it. Wiktionary records 12 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
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
- 1Pratiquer un creux dans la terre.
- 2Creuser la terre en vue de chercher, de découvrir ce qui y est enfermé.
- 3Explorer avec soin.
- 4Examiner les poches ou les vêtements de quelqu’un pour y chercher quelque chose qu’il y aurait cachée.
- 5Faire d’actives recherches pour un travail scientifique ou autre.
- 6Bombarder au loin.
- 7Travailler avec le ciseau les parties renfoncées d’une statue, d’un bas-relief, etc.
- 8Donner de la force aux touches et aux ombres qui représentent les enfoncements.
- 9Travailler avec soin, dans le détail
- 10Attendre en vain ce que l’on espère.
- 11Chercher.
- 12Pénétrer, faire l’amour.
Synonyms
This word in other languages
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.
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"?
What does "fouiller" mean?
What words are commonly confused with "fouiller"?
How do you pronounce "fouiller"?
What language does "fouiller" come from?
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Using “fouiller”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct French spelling is F-O-U-I-L-L-E-R - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as \fu.je\ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Don't mix it up with “fouler” - see the side-by-side comparison. fouiller vs fouler
- 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.