Which to use
“foire” and “foudre” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #5,869
- “foire” frequency rank
- #7,830
- “foudre” frequency rank
- 13699
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foire | foudre |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Fête populaire qui a lieu à certaines dates de l’année. | Décharge électrique, par temps d’orage, entre des nuages et certaines fois entre des nuages et le sol, qui produit une vive lumière (dite éclair) et une violente détonation (dont le son est dit tonnerre). On dit, comme sur la photo, que la foudre est tombée quand elle a touché le sol ou quelque chose en relief sur le sol ou connecté au sol: arbre, construction, etc., a été touché. |
Where the eye mixes foire and foudre
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between foire and foudre
A purely visual mix-up. foire (\fwaʁ\) and foudre (\fudʁ\) 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 13699, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foire is recorded at frequency rank #5,869, classified as anoun, pronounced \fwaʁ\. foudre is at rank #7,830, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fudʁ\.
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 13699, this pair ranks #399,902 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of foire vs foudre
Shared letters: efor. Private to "foire": i. Private to "foudre": du.
"foire" · 5 letters · shape CVVCV · "foudre" · 6 letters · shape CVVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foire" for "foudre" ever safe?
In ordinary French text, does "foire" or "foudre" show up more?
What to do next
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "foire" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "foudre" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #399,902 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foire" and "foudre" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foudre vs foudroyé". 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 #399,902 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.