Which to use
“familles” and “fouilles” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,289
- “familles” frequency rank
- #8,712
- “fouilles” frequency rank
- 10001
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | familles | fouilles |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de famille. | Pluriel de fouille. |
Where the eye mixes familles and fouilles
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. familles (CVCVCCVC) and fouilles (CVVVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses familles with fouilles
A purely visual mix-up. familles (\fa.mij\) and fouilles (\fuj\) 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 10001, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
familles is recorded at frequency rank #1,289, classified as anoun, pronounced \fa.mij\. fouilles is at rank #8,712, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fuj\.
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 10001, this pair ranks #414,604 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of familles vs fouilles
Shared letters: efils. Private to "familles": am. Private to "fouilles": ou.
"familles" · 8 letters · shape CVCVCCVC · "fouilles" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "familles" for "fouilles" ever safe?
Frequency check: "familles" vs "fouilles" - which ranks higher?
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 "familles" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fouilles" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #414,604 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "familles" and "fouilles" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fouilles vs foulées". 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 #414,604 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.