Which to use
“foires” is a noun and “forer” is a verb - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,134
- “foires” frequency rank
- #42,346
- “forer” frequency rank
- 58480
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foires | forer |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de foire. | Creuser un orifice dans une matière rigide. |
Where the eye mixes foires and forer
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 4 letters in sequence. foires runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against forer's 5 (CVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses foires with forer
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foires is \fwaʁ\ while forer is \fɔ.ʁe\. Spoken aloud the problem disappears. In writing it persists, because they differ by 1 letter(s) in length, and the parts of speech differ too (noun vs verb), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 58480, 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\. forer is at rank #42,346, tagged as averb, pronounced \fɔ.ʁe\.
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 58480, this pair ranks #108,830 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.
Orthographic DNA of foires vs forer
Shared letters: efor. Private to "foires": is. Private to "forer": -.
"foires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "forer" · 5 letters · shape CVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "foires" for "forer" ever safe?
Frequency check: "foires" vs "forer" - which ranks higher?
Useful next steps
Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.
- Full dictionary entry for "foires" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "forer" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #108,830 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foires" and "forer" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foies vs forer". 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 #108,830 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.