Which to use
“fever” and “foyer” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #46,168
- “fever” frequency rank
- #3,260
- “foyer” frequency rank
- 49428
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fever | foyer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fièvre. | (Selon certains auteurs) Partie d’une cheminée se trouvant au devant de l’âtre (on brûle le bois), Il se trouve donc en dehors des jambages de la cheminée. Il est souvent constitué de pierres ou de briques si le sol de la pièce est en parquet. |
Where the spellings diverge
Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fever and foyer apart are highlighted. They share 3 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
fever and foyer form a confusable pair in the French index, two distinct headwords that are easily confused because they look alike, sound alike, or both. They share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions - close enough that the eye skips over the difference, far enough that meaning fully diverges. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 49428, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fever is recorded at frequency rank #46,168, classified as anoun, pronounced \ˈfiːvə\. foyer is at rank #3,260, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fwa.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 49428, this pair ranks #170,764 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Frequency comparison
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fever" and "foyer" be used interchangeably?
Remembering fever vs foyer
The fastest way to pick the right one every time.
- Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
- See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “fever” entry
- Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable