Which to use
“foie” is a noun and “fuse” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #5,041
- “foie” frequency rank
- #46,778
- “fuse” frequency rank
- 51819
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foie | fuse |
|---|---|---|
| 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. | Première personne du singulier de l’indicatif présent du verbe fuser. |
Where the eye mixes foie and fuse
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence. foie (CVVV) and fuse (CVCV) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses foie with fuse
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foie is \fwa\ while fuse is \fyz\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 51819, 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\. fuse is at rank #46,778, tagged as averb, pronounced \fyz\.
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 51819, this pair ranks #152,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foie vs fuse
Shared letters: ef. Private to "foie": io. Private to "fuse": su.
"foie" · 4 letters · shape CVVV · "fuse" · 4 letters · shape CVCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foie" for "fuse" ever safe?
Which is more common, "foie" or "fuse"?
After this comparison
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 "fuse" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #152,210 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foie" and "fuse" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fuse". 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 #152,210 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.