enfersvsenfuisConfusable pair

Quick tell: enfers is a noun, enfuis is a verb, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“enfers” is a noun and “enfuis” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#14,031
“enfers” frequency rank
#35,496
“enfuis” frequency rank
49527
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enfers enfuis
Definition Pluriel de enfer. Participe passé masculin pluriel de enfuir.

Where the eye mixes enfers and enfuis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. enfers (VCCVCC) and enfuis (VCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
enfers
6 ch
enfuis

Visual trap between enfers and enfuis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enfers is \ɑ̃.fɛʁ\ while enfuis is \ɑ̃.fɥi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49527, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enfers is recorded at frequency rank #14,031, classified as anoun, pronounced \ɑ̃.fɛʁ\. enfuis is at rank #35,496, tagged as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.fɥi\.

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 49527, this pair ranks #169,909 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of enfers vs enfuis

Shared letters: efns. Private to "enfers": r. Private to "enfuis": iu.

"enfers" · 6 letters · shape VCCVCC  ·  "enfuis" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enfers ← efners · enefrs · enferrs · enferss · enfesr · enffers · enfres · ennfers
  • enfuis ← efnuis · enffuis · enfius · enfuiss · enfusi · ennfuis · enufis · nefuis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enfers" and "enfuis" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enfers" is a noun and "enfuis" a verb, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
In ordinary French text, does "enfers" or "enfuis" show up more?
"enfers" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #14,031 in our French list, against #35,496 for "enfuis". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Useful next steps

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "enfers" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enfuis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #169,909 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enfers" and "enfuis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "enfuis vs étuis". Nearby pair
  • Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes

Confusion rank #169,909 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list