enfouirvsenfouisConfusable pair

Quick tell: enfouir is a verb, enfouis is an adjective, so they fill different roles in a sentence.

Which to use

“enfouir” is a verb and “enfouis” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.

#41,770
“enfouir” frequency rank
#29,760
“enfouis” frequency rank
71530
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enfouir enfouis
Definition Enterrer dans un trou creusé à cet effet et le recouvrir une fois mis en terre. Masculin pluriel de enfoui.

Where the eye mixes enfouir and enfouis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. enfouir and enfouis follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (VCCVVVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.

7 ch
enfouir
7 ch
enfouis

Look-alike desk: enfouir vs enfouis

These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: enfouir is \ɑ̃.fwiʁ\ while enfouis is \ɑ̃.fwi\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by a single letter - r in “enfouir” becomes s in “enfouis”, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 71530, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

enfouir is recorded at frequency rank #41,770, classified as averb, pronounced \ɑ̃.fwiʁ\. enfouis is at rank #29,760, tagged as anadj, pronounced \ɑ̃.fwi\.

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 71530, this pair ranks #47,238 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of enfouir vs enfouis

Shared letters: efinou. Private to "enfouir": r. Private to "enfouis": s.

"enfouir" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC  ·  "enfouis" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enfouirefnouir · enffouir · enfoiur · enfouirr · enfouri · enfuoir · ennfouir · enofuir
  • enfouisefnouis · enffouis · enfoius · enfouiss · enfousi · enfuois · ennfouis · enofuis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enfouir" and "enfouis" be used interchangeably?
No - they are not even the same part of speech. "enfouir" is a verb and "enfouis" an adjective, so a sentence built for one is usually ungrammatical with the other.
Frequency check: "enfouir" vs "enfouis" - which ranks higher?
"enfouis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #29,760 in our French list, against #41,770 for "enfouir". 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 "enfouir" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "enfouis" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #47,238 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enfouir" and "enfouis" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "encourir vs enfouir". 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 #47,238 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