fourche

\fuʁʃ\

/\fuʁʃ\/ noun

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

The verdict

“fourche” has 10 generated spelling variants in the French index at frequency #20,730. The variants make it a useful spelling check.

#20,730
frequency rank, French
3,276
“F” headwords
10
tracked misspellings
9
confusable pairs

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed September 3, 2026) - Instrument qui consiste en un long manche de bois terminé par deux ou trois branches ou pointes de bois, de fer, qui vont en s’écartant.

Corpus desk

Index FR-fourche · fourche · French

fourche · rank #20,730 · 10 variants · 9 confusables

  • FREQ-MID #20,730
  • LEN-LONG 7 letters
  • VOW-3 3 vowels
  • CONFUS-MID 9 pairs
  • VAR-MID 10 variants
  • BOOK-MID 3,276
  • PHOTO-FINISH fouetter

Nearest frequency peer: fouetter (-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 « fourche »

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

corpus weight

What this shows « fourche » 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).

fourche vs fourré
57% similar
fourche vs fournie
71% similar
fourche vs fournée
71% similar

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

Key facts for fourche
PropertyValue
Headwordfourche
LanguageFrench
Part of speechNoun
IPA\fuʁʃ\
Letters7
Frequency rank#20,730
Misspellings tracked10
Confusable pairs9
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Fréquence de l'aimant d'erreurs « fourche »

Cette échelle va du noyau du français courant (gauche) jusqu'à la traîne des formes rares (droite).fourchese 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 « fouetter » (#20,729), « fourneaux » (#20,731), « fonciers » (#20,728). Parmi 3,276 lemmes en « F », « fourche » est au #20,730. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

A misspelling magnet

The generator records 10 spelling variants around fourche (IPA \fuʁʃ\), anoun. Corpus frequency is #20,730 among 3,276 “F” headwords. Wiktionary lists 9 senses, so context still picks the gloss.

Our generated misspelling index lists 10 likely wrong-spelling variants for fourche, with forms such as "ffourche", "foruche", and "foucrhe". Each of these forms differs from the correct spelling by one small edit: a doubled letter, a dropped silent letter, or a substituted vowel. It also participates in 9 confusable-pair relationships, "fourré", "fournie", "fournée", and more, since the words sound or look close enough that writers reach for the wrong one mid-sentence.

No documented word history exists for this headword, so its spelling is best read as a straightforward mapping from sound to letter. The correct French form is fourche, spelled F-O-U-R-C-H-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    Instrument qui consiste en un long manche de bois terminé par deux ou trois branches ou pointes de bois, de fer, qui vont en s’écartant.
  2. 2
    Tout ce qui a la forme ou rappelle la forme de cet instrument.
  3. 3
    Chose qui se divise en deux ou trois par l’extrémité.
  4. 4
    Division, en particulier prématurée, du tronc en plusieurs branches.
  5. 5
    Pièce constituée par deux barres d’acier creux entre lesquelles tourne la roue d’une bicyclette.
  6. 6
    Tige qui relie un tramway à un fil électrique placé en l’air.
  7. 7
    Heure libre entre deux heures de cours.
  8. 8
    Couture qui sépare les jambes d’un pantalon.
  9. 9
    Jambe.

Recorded use

Wiktionary examples

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

  1. On se sert à cet effet d’un instrument en forme de fourche à dents verticales de 1 m 50 de long et 15 pouces d'écartement et que l'on appelle crampon.
  2. Près de la porte, contre le mur, une fourche se dressait, une de ces fourches d’acier aux longues dents puissantes et fines qui se plantent dans les gerbes de blé comme des canines de chat dans un ventre de souris.

This word in other languages

pitchfork(English)horca(Español)Forke(Deutsch)

Common misspellings

Also misspelled as:

  • ffourche
  • foruche
  • foucrhe
  • fourcche
  • fourceh
  • fourchhe
  • fourhce
  • fourrche
  • fuorche
  • ofurche

Misspelling Pattern Breakdown

How far each generated variant is from the correct spelling of fourche - counted as single-character edits (an insertion, a deletion, or a substituted letter). The larger the bar, the easier the typo is to spot; one-edit slips are the ones that sneak past readers.

ffourche1foruche2foucrhe2fourcche1fourceh2fourchhe1fourhce2fourrche1
Edit distance from "fourche"

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 "fourche"?
"fourche" is spelled F-O-U-R-C-H-E. The IPA pronunciation is \fuʁʃ\.
What does "fourche" mean?
As a noun, "fourche" means: Instrument qui consiste en un long manche de bois terminé par deux ou trois branches ou pointes de bois, de fer, qui vont en s’écartant.
What words are commonly confused with "fourche"?
"fourche" is commonly confused with "fourré", "fournie", "fournée". These words look or sound similar but have different meanings. PlainSpell provides detailed comparisons for each pair.
How do you pronounce "fourche"?
The IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) transcription for "fourche" is \fuʁʃ\. Click the speaker icon on the pronunciation badge above to hear it spoken aloud where audio is available.
What language does "fourche" come from?
"fourche" is a French word. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for this and other words across English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German on PlainSpell.
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 "fourche", not the corpus desk frequency band.

Same letter count

Frequency-ranked French headwords with 7 letters (nearest by frequency rank).

frontal#20,732frégate#20,733ficelle#20,722glauque#20,744

Similar misspelling depth

Headwords with a similar count of attested misspellings (10 here; floor ≥5).

grandis10 variantsheather10 variantsdoutent10 variantsinaugure10 variants

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list