foisvsFsWhat's the difference?

Which to use

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

#104
“fois” frequency rank
#28,962
“Fs” frequency rank
29066
confusion score

Side-by-Side Comparison

Feature fois Fs
Definition Nom qui se joint à un adjectif numéral pour indiquer qu’un fait s’est produit ou s’est répété. Pluriel de F.

Where the eye mixes fois and Fs

Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 2 letters in sequence.

4 ch
fois
2 ch
Fs

Visual trap between fois and Fs

A purely visual mix-up. fois (\fwa\) and Fs (\ɛfs\) 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 2 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 29066, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.

fois is recorded at frequency rank #104, classified as anoun, pronounced \fwa\. Fs is at rank #28,962, tagged as anoun, pronounced \ɛfs\.

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 29066, this pair ranks #318,953 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - roughly mid-pack for confusability.

Orthographic DNA of fois vs Fs

Shared letters: fs. Private to "fois": io. Private to "Fs": -.

"fois" · 4 letters · shape CVVC  ·  "Fs" · 2 letters · shape CC

Known mistypes of this pair

  • foisffois · fios · foiss · fosi · ofis

Frequently Asked Questions

Is swapping "fois" for "Fs" ever safe?
No. They are said differently (\fwa\ versus \ɛfs\) and carry different meanings; reading the sentence aloud is usually enough to catch the wrong one.
Which is more common, "fois" or "Fs"?
"fois" is the more common of the two: it sits at frequency rank #104 in our French list, against #28,962 for "Fs". That is a wide gap, so in ordinary text the rarer spelling is the one worth double-checking.

What to do next

Pronunciation already separates them, if the page still looks alike, the dictionary links below settle it.

  • Full dictionary entry for "fois" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
  • Full dictionary entry for "Fs" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
  • This pair ranks #318,953 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
  • "fois" and "Fs" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "Fee vs Fs". 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 #318,953 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.

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

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list