Which to use
“foi” and “fox” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #1,478
- “foi” frequency rank
- #7,832
- “fox” frequency rank
- 9310
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foi | fox |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Croyance aux dogmes de la religion, en Dieu. | Race de chien, abréviation de fox-terrier. |
Where the eye mixes foi and fox
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: foi vs fox
A purely visual mix-up. foi (\fwa\) and fox (\fɔks\) 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 a single letter - i in “foi” becomes x in “fox”. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9310, 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\. fox is at rank #7,832, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔks\.
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 9310, this pair ranks #417,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of foi vs fox
Shared letters: fo. Private to "foi": i. Private to "fox": x.
"foi" · 3 letters · shape CVV · "fox" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foi" for "fox" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "foi" or "fox" show up more?
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 "foi" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fox" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #417,114 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foi" and "fox" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fox". Nearby pair
Confusion rank #417,114 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.