Which to use
“foies” is a noun and “fumes” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #47,901
- “foies” frequency rank
- #22,870
- “fumes” frequency rank
- 70771
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foies | fumes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de foie. | Deuxième personne du singulier du présent de l’indicatif de fumer. |
Where the eye mixes foies and fumes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 3 letters in sequence. foies (CVVVC) and fumes (CVCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Why the eye confuses foies with fumes
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foies is \fwa\ while fumes is \fym\. 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 70771, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foies is recorded at frequency rank #47,901, classified as anoun, pronounced \fwa\. fumes is at rank #22,870, tagged as averb, pronounced \fym\.
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 70771, this pair ranks #50,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of foies vs fumes
Shared letters: efs. Private to "foies": io. Private to "fumes": mu.
"foies" · 5 letters · shape CVVVC · "fumes" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "foies" and "fumes" be used interchangeably?
Which is more common, "foies" or "fumes"?
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 "foies" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fumes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #50,094 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foies" and "fumes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs fouets". 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 #50,094 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.