enfouivsenfuisConfusable pair

Which to use

“enfoui” and “enfuis” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#27,424
“enfoui” frequency rank
#35,496
“enfuis” frequency rank
62920
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enfoui enfuis
Definition Participe passé masculin singulier du verbe enfouir. Participe passé masculin pluriel de enfuir.

Where the eye mixes enfoui and enfuis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. enfoui (VCCVVV) and enfuis (VCCVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.

6 ch
enfoui
6 ch
enfuis

Why the eye confuses enfoui with enfuis

A purely visual mix-up. enfoui (\ɑ̃.fwi\) and enfuis (\ɑ̃.fɥi\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 3 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62920, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enfoui is recorded at frequency rank #27,424, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.fwi\. 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 62920, this pair ranks #84,556 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of enfoui vs enfuis

Shared letters: efinu. Private to "enfoui": o. Private to "enfuis": s.

"enfoui" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVV  ·  "enfuis" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enfouiefnoui · enffoui · enfoiu · enfuoi · ennfoui · enofui · nefoui
  • enfuisefnuis · enffuis · enfius · enfuiss · enfusi · ennfuis · enufis · nefuis

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "enfoui" for "enfuis" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.fwi\ versus \ɑ̃.fɥi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "enfoui" or "enfuis"?
"enfoui" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #27,424 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

Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.

  • Full dictionary entry for "enfoui" 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 #84,556 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enfoui" 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 #84,556 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