Which to use
“foi” and “foins” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,478
- “foi” frequency rank
- #48,534
- “foins” frequency rank
- 50012
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foi | foins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Croyance aux dogmes de la religion, en Dieu. | Pluriel de foin. |
Where the eye mixes foi and foins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between foi and foins
A purely visual mix-up. foi (\fwa\) and foins (\fwɛ̃\) 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 2 extra letter(s) - “foi” sits inside “foins”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 50012, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foi is recorded at frequency rank #1,478, classified as anoun, pronounced \fwa\. foins is at rank #48,534, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fwɛ̃\.
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 50012, this pair ranks #165,988 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foi vs foins
Shared letters: fio. Private to "foi": -. Private to "foins": ns.
"foi" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "foins" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
- foins ← ffoins · fions · foinns · foinss · foisn · fonis · ofins
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "foi" and "foins" be used interchangeably?
Frequency check: "foi" vs "foins" - which ranks higher?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "foi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foins" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #165,988 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foi" and "foins" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs foins". 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 #165,988 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.