enfouirvsenfuisWhich spelling fits?

Which to use

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

#41,770
“enfouir” frequency rank
#35,496
“enfuis” frequency rank
77266
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature enfouir enfuis
Definition Enterrer dans un trou creusé à cet effet et le recouvrir une fois mis en terre. Participe passé masculin pluriel de enfuir.

Where the eye mixes enfouir and enfuis

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. enfouir runs 7 letters (VCCVVVC) against enfuis's 6 (VCCVVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.

7 ch
enfouir
6 ch
enfuis

Why the eye confuses enfouir with enfuis

A purely visual mix-up. enfouir (\ɑ̃.fwiʁ\) 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 differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 77266, 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\. 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 77266, this pair ranks #28,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of enfouir vs enfuis

Shared letters: efinu. Private to "enfouir": or. Private to "enfuis": s.

"enfouir" · 7 letters · shape VCCVVVC  ·  "enfuis" · 6 letters · shape VCCVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • enfouirefnouir · enffouir · enfoiur · enfouirr · enfouri · enfuoir · ennfouir · enofuir
  • enfuisefnuis · enffuis · enfius · enfuiss · enfusi · ennfuis · enufis · nefuis

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "enfouir" and "enfuis" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\ɑ̃.fwiʁ\ versus \ɑ̃.fɥi\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Frequency check: "enfouir" vs "enfuis" - which ranks higher?
"enfuis" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #35,496 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.

After this comparison

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

  • Full dictionary entry for "enfouir" 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 #28,893 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "enfouir" and "enfuis" 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 #28,893 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