foiresvsfrisesWhat's the difference?

Which to use

“foires” and “frises” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.

#16,134
“foires” frequency rank
#46,777
“frises” frequency rank
62911
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature foires frises
Definition Pluriel de foire. Pluriel de frise.

Where the spellings diverge

Shared letters are muted; the letters that actually set foires and frises apart are highlighted. They share 4 letters in sequence, which is exactly why the eye skips the difference.

6 ch
foires
6 ch
frises

Spelling & Dictionary Insight

A purely visual mix-up. foires (\fwaʁ\) and frises (\fʁiz\) 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 62911, 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\. frises is at rank #46,777, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fʁiz\.

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 62911, this pair ranks #84,609 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - among the most confusable pairs.

Orthographic DNA of foires vs frises

Shared letters: efirs. Private to "foires": o. Private to "frises": -.

"foires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC  ·  "frises" · 6 letters · shape CCVCVC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foiresffoires · fiores · foiers · foiress · foirres · foirse · fories · ofires
  • frisesffrises · firses · frisess · frisses · frrises · frsies · rfises

Frequency comparison

foires#16,134
frises#46,777

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list

Frequently Asked Questions

Can "foires" and "frises" be used interchangeably?
No. They are said differently (\fwaʁ\ versus \fʁiz\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "foires" or "frises"?
"foires" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #16,134 in our French list, against #46,777 for "frises". The two are close in frequency, so neither is a safe default; check the meaning rather than guessing.

Remembering foires vs frises

The fastest way to pick the right one every time.

  • Read both glosses above and match the meaning you intend, only context separates this pair.
  • See each word in full, definition, IPA, etymology and its other confusables. Full “foires” entry
  • Browse more pairs most likely to be confused. Most confusable

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list