Which to use
“fines” and “foies” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #7,694
- “fines” frequency rank
- #47,901
- “foies” frequency rank
- 55595
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fines | foies |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Granulat composé d’éléments de très petites dimensions utilisé soit comme charge de remplissage pour augmenter la compacité notamment d'un béton, d'un sol, soit comme constituant de certains liants hydrauliques. | Pluriel de foie. |
Where the eye mixes fines and foies
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. fines (CVCVC) and foies (CVVVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: fines vs foies
A purely visual mix-up. fines (\fin\) and foies (\fwa\) 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 55595, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fines is recorded at frequency rank #7,694, classified as anoun, pronounced \fin\. foies is at rank #47,901, 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 55595, this pair ranks #126,490 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fines vs foies
Shared letters: efis. Private to "fines": n. Private to "foies": o.
"fines" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC · "foies" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "fines" and "foies" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "fines" vs "foies" - 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 "fines" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foies" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #126,490 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fines" and "foies" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs fouets". 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 #126,490 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.