Which to use
“foires” is a noun and “froides” is an adjective - they look or sound alike but fill different roles in a sentence.
- #16,134
- “foires” frequency rank
- #11,775
- “froides” frequency rank
- 27909
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | foires | froides |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Pluriel de foire. | Féminin pluriel de froid. |
Where the eye mixes foires and froides
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 5 letters in sequence. foires runs 6 letters (CVVCVC) against froides's 7 (CCVVCVC) - the length gap alone is often enough to separate them once you know to check it.
Why the eye confuses foires with froides
These two trip readers on the page rather than in the ear: foires is \fwaʁ\ while froides is \fʁwad\. 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 adjective), which is usually the fastest check. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 27909, 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\. froides is at rank #11,775, tagged as anadj, pronounced \fʁwad\.
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 27909, this pair ranks #326,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of foires vs froides
Shared letters: efiors. Private to "foires": -. Private to "froides": d.
"foires" · 6 letters · shape CVVCVC · "froides" · 7 letters · shape CCVVCVC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Do "foires" and "froides" mean the same thing in a sentence?
Frequency check: "foires" vs "froides" - which ranks higher?
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 "foires" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "froides" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #326,012 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "foires" and "froides" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "foins vs foires". 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 #326,012 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.