Which to use
“feuilleté” is an adjective and “fouillée” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #42,337
- “feuilleté” frequency rank
- #36,848
- “fouillée” frequency rank
- 79185
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | feuilleté | fouillée |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Qualifie un matériau en feuillets. | Participe passé féminin singulier de fouiller. |
Where the eye mixes feuilleté and fouillée
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 6 letters in sequence. feuilleté runs 9 letters (CVVVCCVCV) against fouillée's 8 (CVVVCCVV) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between feuilleté and fouillée
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: feuilleté is \fœj.te\ while fouillée is \fu.je\. 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 (adjective vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 79185, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
feuilleté is recorded at frequency rank #42,337, classified as anadj, pronounced \fœj.te\. fouillée is at rank #36,848, tagged as averb, pronounced \fu.je\.
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 79185, this pair ranks #23,910 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of feuilleté vs fouillée
Shared letters: efilué. Private to "feuilleté": t. Private to "fouillée": o.
"feuilleté" · 9 letters · shape CVVVCCVCV · "fouillée" · 8 letters · shape CVVVCCVV
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "feuilleté" and "fouillée" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "feuilleté" or "fouillée" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "feuilleté" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fouillée" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #23,910 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "feuilleté" and "fouillée" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "feuilleté vs feuilletée". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #23,910 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.