Which to use
“fioul” and “foule” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #27,065
- “fioul” frequency rank
- #2,616
- “foule” frequency rank
- 29681
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fioul | foule |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Distillat lourd du pétrole, utilisé comme combustible pour des installations de chauffage domestiques ou industrielles, comme carburant pour les gros moteurs diesels. | Action de fouler les draps. On dit plutôt foulage de nos jours. |
Where the eye mixes fioul and foule
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between fioul and foule
A purely visual mix-up. fioul (\fjul\) and foule (\ful\) 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 4 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29681, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fioul is recorded at frequency rank #27,065, classified as anoun, pronounced \fjul\. foule is at rank #2,616, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ful\.
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 29681, this pair ranks #315,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fioul vs foule
Shared letters: flou. Private to "fioul": i. Private to "foule": e.
"fioul" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "foule" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fioul" and "foule" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "fioul" vs "foule" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "fioul" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foule" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #315,146 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fioul" and "foule" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "fioul vs flour". 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 #315,146 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.