Which to use
“foie” and “foins” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,041
- “foie” frequency rank
- #48,534
- “foins” frequency rank
- 53575
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foie | foins |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Organe présent chez l’être humain et chez la plupart des vertébrés, produisant la bile. Il sert, entre autres, à régler le métabolisme des glucides. | Pluriel de foin. |
Where the eye mixes foie and foins
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. foie runs 4 letters (CVVV) against foins's 5 (CVVCC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Visual trap between foie and foins
A purely visual mix-up. foie (\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 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 53575, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foie is recorded at frequency rank #5,041, 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 53575, this pair ranks #139,789 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foie vs foins
Shared letters: fio. Private to "foie": e. Private to "foins": ns.
"foie" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "foins" · 5 letters · shape CVVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foie" for "foins" ever safe?
Frequency check: "foie" vs "foins" - 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 "foie" 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 #139,789 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foie" 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 #139,789 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.