Which to use
“fois” and “fon” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #104
- “fois” frequency rank
- #27,443
- “fon” frequency rank
- 27547
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fois | fon |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom qui se joint à un adjectif numéral pour indiquer qu’un fait s’est produit ou s’est répété. | Langue parlée au Bénin et au Nigéria. |
Where the eye mixes fois and fon
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Look-alike desk: fois vs fon
A purely visual mix-up. fois (\fwa\) and fon (\fɔ̃\) 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 27547, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fois is recorded at frequency rank #104, classified as anoun, pronounced \fwa\. fon is at rank #27,443, tagged as anoun, pronounced \fɔ̃\.
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 27547, this pair ranks #328,279 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.
Orthographic DNA of fois vs fon
Shared letters: fo. Private to "fois": is. Private to "fon": n.
"fois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "fon" · 3 letters · shape CVC
Known mistypes of this pair
- fois ← ffois · fios · foiss · fosi · ofis
Frequently Asked Questions
Can "fois" and "fon" be used interchangeably?
In ordinary French text, does "fois" or "fon" show up more?
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 "fois" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "fon" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #328,279 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fois" and "fon" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs fon". 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 #328,279 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.