Which to use
“fois” and “font” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #104
- “fois” frequency rank
- #281
- “font” frequency rank
- 385
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | fois | font |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Nom qui se joint à un adjectif numéral pour indiquer qu’un fait s’est produit ou s’est répété. | ou Source, fontaine. |
Where the eye mixes fois and font
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.
Why the eye confuses fois with font
A purely visual mix-up. fois (\fwa\) and font (\fɔ̃\) 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 385, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
fois is recorded at frequency rank #104, classified as anoun, pronounced \fwa\. font is at rank #281, 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 385, this pair ranks #439,728 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of fois vs font
Shared letters: fo. Private to "fois": is. Private to "font": nt.
"fois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC · "font" · 4 letters · shape CVCC
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "fois" for "font" ever safe?
Frequency check: "fois" vs "font" - 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 "fois" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "font" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #439,728 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "fois" and "font" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "FIV vs fois". 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 #439,728 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.