Which to use
“foires” and “fontes” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #16,134
- “foires” frequency rank
- #46,178
- “fontes” frequency rank
- 62312
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foires | fontes |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de foire. | Fourreau de cuir pour les pistolets. |
Where the eye mixes foires and fontes
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. foires (CVVCVC) and fontes (CVCCVC) run the same length but a different consonant-vowel pattern - the shape difference is usually the fastest tell.
Look-alike desk: foires vs fontes
A purely visual mix-up. foires (\fwaʁ\) and fontes (\fɔ̃t\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they share most of their letters but differ in 2 positions. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 62312, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
foires is recorded at frequency rank #16,134, classified as anoun, pronounced \fwaʁ\. fontes is at rank #46,178, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃t\.
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 62312, this pair ranks #87,795 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of foires vs fontes
Shared letters: efos. Private to "foires": ir. Private to "fontes": nt.
"foires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "fontes" · 6 letters · shape CVCCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "foires" and "fontes" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Which is more common, "foires" or "fontes"?
What to do next
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "foires" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fontes" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #87,795 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foires" and "fontes" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs fontes". 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 #87,795 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.