Which to use
“fais” is a verb and “foins” is a noun - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #190
- “fais” frequency rank
- #48,534
- “foins” frequency rank
- 48724
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fais | foins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent de faire. | Pluriel de foin. |
Where the eye mixes fais and foins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fais vs foins
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: fais is \fɛ\ while foins is \fwɛ̃\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (verb vs noun), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 48724, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fais is recorded at frequency rank #190, classified as averb, pronounced \fɛ\. foins is at rank #48,534, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fwɛ̃\.
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 48724, this pair ranks #176,535 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fais vs foins
Shared letters: fis. Private to "fais": a. Private to "foins": no.
"fais" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "foins" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fais" and "foins" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "fais" or "foins"?
After this comparison
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fais" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #176,535 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fais" and "foins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs foins". 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 #176,535 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.