ficvsfoisWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“fic” and “fois” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#46,762
“fic” frequency rank
#104
“fois” frequency rank
46866
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fic fois
Definition Verrue à pédoncule étroit ressemblant à une figue. Nom qui se joint à un adjectif numéral pour indiquer qu’un fait s’est produit ou s’est répété.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set fic and fois apart are highlighted. They share 2 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

3 ch
fic
4 ch
fois

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. fic (\fik\) and fois (\fwa\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 46866, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fic is recorded at frequency rank #46,762, classified as anoun, pronounced \fik\. fois is at rank #104, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fwa\.

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 46866, this pair ranks #191,439 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fic vs fois

Shared letters: fi. Private to "fic": c. Private to "fois": os.

"fic" · 3 letters · shape CVC  ·  "fois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foisffois · fios · foiss · fosi · ofis

Frequency comparison

fic#46,762
fois#104

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "fic" and "fois" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fik\ versus \fwa\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fic" or "fois"?
"fois" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #104 in our French list, against #46,762 for "fic". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

Remembering fic vs fois

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 “fic” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list