Which to use
“faisan” and “foison” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #38,797
- “faisan” frequency rank
- #37,817
- “foison” frequency rank
- 76614
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | faisan | foison |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom donné à cinq genres de gallinacés de la famille des phasianidés, englobant une vintaine d'espèces qui fréquentent différents habitats forestiers dans les vallées et les montagnes de toute l'Asie du Sud-Est, présentant un dimorphisme sexuel prononcé et où le mâle arbore souvent un plumage multicolore et richement orné. | Très grande abondance. |
Where the eye mixes faisan and foison
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. faisan and foison follow the identical consonant-vowel pattern (CVVCVC). Same shape at a glance is often the real trap, independent of shared letters.
Visual trap between faisan and foison
A purely visual mix-up. faisan (\fə.zɑ̃\) and foison (\fwa.zɔ̃\) 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 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 76614, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
faisan is recorded at frequency rank #38,797, classified as anoun, pronounced \fə.zɑ̃\. foison is at rank #37,817, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fwa.zɔ̃\.
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 76614, this pair ranks #30,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of faisan vs foison
Shared letters: fins. Private to "faisan": a. Private to "foison": o.
"faisan" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "foison" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "faisan" and "foison" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "faisan" or "foison"?
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 "faisan" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foison" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #30,614 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "faisan" and "foison" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "faisan vs faisans". 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 #30,614 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.